Wheel of Fortune
by Delphina2
Summary: After MIB leaves mother and before he kills her he finds a dead Charlotte left behind from the time traveling and coerces Mother to bring her back so that he can learn how she got there and use her knowledge of a magic wheel to help him leave.
1. Finding Charlotte

Trudging through the jungle he was plagued like hornets with this anger. He knew enough not to lash out violently at people; he'd learned from watching Jacob's temper erupt - that was not how to win friends. It wasn't even that he wanted friends, he just needed allies.

He knew who the smart people were, and was working to win their favor, but honestly, right now he'd settle for anyone with a common goal of leaving.

The trouble was, they _all_ liked it here. It was peaceful they said. Yet they fought all the time! Petty disputes too over tools and who said what to whom, when to hunt, when to plant, when to gather, who was faster, stronger. And while the men were bullies, the women were worse.

His only escape were these long treks, hunting, he claimed. In reality he was driven by a hope to find some way off of the island; to find somewhere to really belong. He was sure if Jacob would leave that woman, with his brother's strength and his intelligence, the two of them would quickly find others to join them and rule over the people.

Where was the cave of light? It would be dark in a few hours and he'd just spent another entire day wasting his time.

He was about to turn around and go home when he heard voices. He heard them, but he couldn't understand them. Carefully he moved towards where they were and when he came close he ducked behind a tree so as not to be seen. There was a man and a woman and he could tell by the tone of their voices that something grave was happening. He peeked around to watch and saw the man leaning over his companion. His clothing was as strange as his language.

When she began to cough and sat up enough, he saw her hair was the color a fiery orange like hot coals! The next thing he noticed was blood coming from her nose. His first instinct was to run to help them, but then she spoke something softly and somehow he knew... she was dying. He pulled back around the tree.

Listening to the man weeping for her, it struck him, where did they come from and how did they get here? This man might make a potential ally. He moved around the tree and was about to call out when... the man disappeared! Running down the hill to the path he looked around, but there was no sign of the stranger.

He went to the pale woman, she was still as stone. If that man had been here and was now gone, then there _was_ a way other than the ships to leave the island. He cursed himself for not moving more quickly so he could have talked to the man.

"Take her to the woman who raised you," a voice spoke to him. He looked up and saw his mother! She was just as angelic as he remembered her being as a child. But she had led him away from that crazy woman and was now sending him back?

"She'll ask me questions... she won't help."

"She loves you. And she will know what to do. She can bring her back."

It was true, he knew it as soon as he heard it. Gently, he lifted the dead woman and made the journey to the cave.

"Where is she," he asked Jacob. "Where's mother?"

"Who is that?" he asked.

"Someone I found. Get mother," he said, looking around the cave. He laid the corpse down and took the jug of water and a cloth, wetting it and wiping her face of the blood. He closed her eyes which had come open in the journey and pushed her mouth closed.

"What's wrong with her?" Jacob asked.

"She's hurt. Only mother can make her better... if you would _find her_."

Jacob ran off at once and came back with the crazy woman more quickly than he expected. The look on her face when she saw the beautiful woman was deadlier than he'd ever seen.

He stood up and said, "Hello, mother." Her eyes turned on him and he said, "Please... fix her? I know you know how."

"Where did you find her?" his mother asked.

"I don't remember, some shore," he lied. "I was wandering lost... will you fix her?"

"I can't," she said.

"Don't lie to me, mother," he challenged. He looked at Jacob and said, "Why don't you go get some fresh water for when she wakes up." His brother nodded and left. "Now, you can be honest. Don't tell me that you can't bring her back, you tell me why you won't."

She stared at him hurt, but unwilling to lie further. "If I do this, will you come back to me?"

When he saw that what his real mother had said was true, he used it, speaking gently. "I love you, but I want my own life. You were right about those people, they are bad, mother. But they aren't making me bad, I'm just lonely. There's nobody among them that I can... be with." He looked down at the woman and said, "Because she is not from here, and she's all alone, she will have nobody else." He took his mother's hand and pleaded, "You know I can make her love me. I just need you to bring her back. Please, fix her... for me?"

"Will this make you happy?" she asked.

"It will," he said, hoping it was enough. Then he threw something else out there, just in case. "It may even give me a reason to want to stay on the island."

He couldn't tell if she believed him, but she told him, "Go find your brother and tell him to bring a full jug of water from the _other_ stream, he'll know which one."

When he returned with Jacob and the jug, the woman was sitting up next to their mother, her eyes dark, but open and alive. Jacob in his naivete thought nothing of it. But it was a miracle. People didn't come back from 'dead'. Dead was dead.

"You did it!" he said.

She gestured for the water and said, "Give it to me Jacob."

He did so and she poured it over the woman's head and body, drenching her, and yet she didn't move. She then gave the woman a sip of the water. Once she drank and blinked, her eyes lit up and she took in a large breath, coughing again. Jacob cringed, looking away.

But he squatted down beside her, taking her hand and pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. They were such a beautiful color. She was confused and disoriented but gave him a meager smile. It filled him up with hope. What did she know, what could she tell him? Would she? There was so much potential in her saved life.

He turned to the crazy woman and said, sincerely, his voice cracking. "Thank you, mother. You don't know how much this means to me."

The woman sat up more and he turned back to her as she said something in the other language. To make her feel comfortable, he repeated her words, "Where am I?"

"What does that mean?" Jacob asked him.

"I don't know..." he snapped. "I'm just..." He rolled his eyes and saw his mother looking at him with loving approval.

"You speak Latin?" the woman asked, surprised.

With a smile he said, "We've helped you, how do you feel?"

"Better..." she said with an enjoyable chuckle. He laughed with her, of course alive had to feel better than dead.

"Where did you come from?" Jacob asked.

Their mother got up and pushed him away. "Go gather firewood, Jacob."

The woman looked up at his brother and Jacob smiled at her. When she smiled back at his brother, he said, "Do what mother says, Jacob."

"We have plenty," Jacob said softly, still staring at the woman.

"Go, now, Jacob!" their mother ordered. With that tone, Jacob listened and their mother turned and said, "Get her out of here, take her to the other people. I don't want your brother talking to her."

To the woman he whispered, "We have to go, she's crazy." He helped her to her feet and she didn't resist.

As they were leaving his mother said, "You can come back to visit, but don't bring her. Come alone. I want to talk to you..."

"I will," he answered, not meaning to.


	2. Nameless New Friend

*********Chapter 2************

Charlotte had no idea who this man who was leading her was. Even though she felt fine, amazing actually for having been bleeding in her brain only hours ago, he continued to insist on helping her up every steep incline and held her hand over any river they crossed, no matter how shallow.

When he insisted they rest at dusk, she decided to try to talk to him again. So far, her vocabulary was far from adequate for even casual conversation. He had been patient with her thus far, though.

"I am well," she said in her choppy Latin.

"That's good to hear," he said. "You speak well, you should try to talk more."

It was amazing to hear it spoken in his ancient accent; so different than any might expect, almost with an Italian lilt.

He pulled out a linen bag of nuts and emptied them into his hand, giving her half. She thanked him and when she went to get a drink in the stream he gestured for her to sit and then folded a leaf and brought it to her, helping her drink.

It was quite awkward and when he sat back down across from her she said. "You treat me as if..." she searched for a phrase and tried what she thought would work. She said the words she thought meant badly broken and he smiled, looking up at her from under his dark brows.

He then lifted his head and sniffed the air. Getting up, he came closer to her and breathed in nearer and then lifted some of her hair to smell. She leaned away and told him to stop in Latin as she smiled.

His eyes met hers and he said, "No you don't."

Charlotte laughed and realized her mistake. In English she said to herself, "Fragile, is very close to fragro... to smell." He squinted, sitting beside her, curious. In Latin she said, "I'm not so badly fragile."

"Ah!" he said. "I understand. You're not fragile, no need to qualify it." He licked his lips, thinking as he looked her over. He took a nervous breath and speaking slowly he said, "I need you to understand about my people, before we return." He waited and she nodded. "They will ask about you, I need to lie, to keep you safe."

Charlotte nodded again. She didn't know what he knew about where she came from and she could only hope that Daniel and the others would find her soon, or that a flash would take her away from this place. For now, she would go along with this man; he'd been helpful so far, and he didn't seem dangerous in the least.

"Good," he said, rubbing his hands when he saw she wasn't arguing. "I think I should stay with what I said to my mother. I found you washed up on the shore. Everyone is afraid to go near the statue, so we'll say it happened there. You pretend you forgot, but I will need you to tell me, where you came from and how you got here, so I will know if someone asks questions."

Now things were tricky and Charlotte blinked, pretending she didn't understand as she shook her head. She put her hand to her forehead and said, "Not remember."

"Right, you tell them we will tell them that you don't remember. But..." he raised his brows and said, "You tell me what you do remember." Pointing away he said, "We lie to them..." Pointing to himself he said, "You tell me the truth." She didn't answer and he tried again. "How did you get to the island?"

With a short sigh, Charlotte looked down and thought about what might happen if she told the truth. This man was so primitive, yet she could tell, he was fairly intelligent. He might know if she lied.

"I can't say," she said. "I came with others. I should look for them maybe and not go with you."

"There was a man, with a beard," he said, putting his hand on his chin.

Charlotte nodded and said excitedly, "Daniel? You saw him?" The man nodded. "Where did he go?"

When he told her she shook her head and used a word she knew to clarify, "Dead?" He shook his head and tried again with another word. "He's lost?" Again he shook his head as if she'd misunderstood.

"I was looking at him," he said. "And then he was not there."

"He disappeared!" she gasped in English.

He nodded and repeated her words, "He disappeared."

Charlotte didn't know what that meant. Why was she still here if the others had moved on?

"He left you," he said. "Because he thought you were dead. I will not leave you. I will help you, and protect you. But you need to tell me the truth."

"Daniel would not have left me," she said. "I was left behind because... I was dead, wasn't I?" He didn't look to want to answer and she accused him, "You brought me back... no, Jacob brought me back." Charlotte stood, looking down on him. "That was Jacob. _The_ Jacob. He brought me back, didn't he?"

"Jacob?" he laughed, standing, yet still looking up at her. "Jacob can't do anything. My mother brought you back. She's not just crazy, she has healing powers."

"Your mother?" she asked. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jacob's brother, how do you know him?"

Charlotte couldn't answer that and shook her head, sitting down. He sat beside her and sighed.

"I didn't know Jacob had a brother," she asked. "What's your name?"

"In the village they call me a few things," he said. "I don't like any of them... you choose what you want to call me. What should I call you?"

"Charlotte," she said. "What do they call you?"

"It's not important." He looked up and said, "It's getting late. It's not safe at night, we should go. We can talk later... if you're agreeable to my plan."

Charlotte wondered if there was a smoke monster on the island at this time and if so, she knew enough to stay with someone who understood the island well. This man was at least as old as she was and had obviously lived here his whole life.

"Yes, I am," she said.

"Good, then tomorrow I hope you will tell me the truth."

Though she went with him, nagging Charlotte's mind was the thought that she could very well be stuck here, unless... the wheel had been built already. If she could find it, and turn it, maybe then, she could go back.


	3. Behave or Be Dead

Reading through my story tonight I realized that somehow a while ago I replaced chapter 3 with chapter 1... Nobody who read it ever told me (or noticed) and I do not know if I have another copy of the original story anywhere anymore. I don't remember what I wrote either. So, I am deleting this chapter and using this as a place holder until I can get on my old computer to see if I can find it.

Very sad...


	4. Fitting In

Charlotte had won awards and recognition for her work as a cultural anthropologist, so why had she so blatantly failed to adapt to this society? It wasn't that she hadn't picked up on the social structure, rather she had reacted emotionally instead of professionally.

Disorientation from the time travel, not to mention her death were certainly worthy excuses, but this man who had found her was right; any other would never have tolerated such attitude from a woman. If she was going to survive long enough to find the wheel and get home, she was going to have to play along by their rules.

She thought it better if she told this man as little as possible and decided to look for a time to separate from the women and find where the Orchid was going to be built. There would likely be some way down to the wheel chamber - if it was even there yet! She had no way of knowing.

As she walked along Charlotte attempted to mirror the interactions of the women and join in their banter. Mr. Widmore had told her that languages became easier to learn on the island, but she had never expected to pick up Latin so fluently in just a couple of days of living here. And yet she had little trouble understanding everything being said; feigning that she didn't helped her at times to evade questions, however.

"I didn't think Grumpy was going to let you go," one woman said to her, amused. Charlotte wondered if that was another common name or just a comment on his current mood. "He seems quite attached to you, protective... it's sweet, don't you think?"

Charlotte gave a nod and a smile, but said nothing. The women began to speak of him as middle school girls would a cute boy in class and when they got to the stream they stopped only long enough to give her instructions on washing the two shirts of his he had given her.

"You have made many of us very jealous," Miriam, the sister of the leader said.

"Why?" Charlotte asked looking around at them. The leader's wife moved off with a few others, leaving only three of the younger women with Charlotte and Miriam.

"Hadrian," she whispered. "It's what some of us call the him when the men aren't around." She glanced up at the older women off on their own now and said, "My sister in law doesn't like it either... It means the dark one from the sea. My cousin named him that. She was in love with him more than any of us."

"Was?" Charlotte asked.

"She died... drowned," she said. "Nobody knows how it was in very shallow water like this stream."

Another woman said, "The other nicknames the men have given him are all too insulting in our opinion, but he won't reveal his true name, so what can we do?"

"Why would they insult him?" Charlotte asked, wondering also why he would put up with it.

"He makes them feel stupid," Miriam said. "He doesn't mean to, he can't help it if his ideas are better. If they would listen to him, life would be much easier. But nobody wants to go up against my brother and he is as thick skulled as a bear."

It was the same in almost all cultures, those with new ideas were scorned while the popular made the decisions. Charlotte found it refreshing that at least some of the women saw the foolishness in it.

"I agree that he is very intelligent," she said to them. "I am fortunate that he found me. He's been very kind."

"He's also very handsome, don't you think?" Miriam asked.

Charlotte could see how the young women were eying her for a response and didn't want to enter into a competition; females could be very vicious when fighting over the attention of a desired male.

"There is no need to be jealous," she started and then she thought about what she'd seen in the village. "Wait, aren't all of you married?"

"Of course we are, there is a shortage of women so every girl is promised on birth, but it doesn't mean we can't dream a little." They exchanged glances with each other and Charlotte realized what was happening. In every culture where women were oppressed they found creative ways to live vicariously through others. She took the shirt she was washing and started to wring it out but was scolded by every one of them.

"No, that's wrong, you'll wear out the threads if you twist it!" the woman beside her said.

"Squeeze the water, gently," Miriam said. She took the shirt herself and demonstrated. It looked to Charlotte as if she was enjoying the task too much. "I've offered to do his laundry many times," she said, carefully working the water out. "He refuses. He would rather stink like death than accept my help."

It made the others laugh and Miriam tilted her head, holding it up to examine it. "I don't know why he insists on black. I made him a white shirt once and he uses it to polish tools."

"I know why he wears black," one of the women who didn't speak as often said. They all looked at her, "It hides his blood stains."

Charlotte turned to look at her and they all went quiet. "What... blood stains?" she asked.

The shirt was handed back to her and Miriam said quickly, "He has difficulty with the other men. He doesn't start fights, but they blame him for many things. It is no wonder he hunts on his own now and avoids giving advice."

The woman who had spoke up first said, "Some of our husband's are jealous and use excuses to spill his blood. "

Miriam grabbed her dress out of the water and began squeezing it quietly. Charlotte resisted commenting, not knowing what the protocol would be for her to speak unfavorably about their husbands.

"Where you come from," one of the others asked her. "Did you have a husband? You're very old not to have one."

She thought about lying, but decided she wouldn't be able to fake it for long and if she was stuck here, she needed to be trusted. "No I didn't. Women provide for themselves where I come from; so they don't need a man. We marry only when we fall in love."

Miriam and one of the woman who asked her laughed. "I have been in love four times," Miriam said. "But I am very glad I did not marry any of them. My husband is old, but he is a better provider for me than they have turned out to be for their wives." She glanced at the woman who had not laughed, the one who brought up Hadrian's blood stains and said, "I mean no offense."

The woman took her clothing, darted a glance at Charlotte and said, "Excuse me." She splashed away to join the older women and those with Charlotte exchanged self-satisfied glances. Charlotte was very glad now she had held her tongue on her opinion of those that bully Hadrian.

"Her husband was spoiled as a child and does little work," Miriam said. She then went dreamy and said, "Hadrian has not turned out badly, despite his discord with others." Squeezing the dress she was cleaning she said sincerely, "I hope you will make him happy." Then to her friends she said, "That is the only way we will forgive you for being the first to share his bed."

One of the others gasped and splashed water at her as they all then laughed.

Charlotte's mouth dropped at their teasing and said, "I have not shared his bed and I don't plan to!" They looked at her with smirking expressions of disbelief and she added. "I am in love with someone else, a man from where I came!" This they didn't seem to like much but she went on. "I hope to go back to him. Hadrian is planning to help me go back."

Their smiles faded completely and Miriam asked, "Has he talked of leaving with you?"

Charlotte suddenly felt she may have said too much and said, "Not necessarily."

The woman came towards her and said, "Of course he is, leaving the island is all he ever talked about when we were children."

"What would be wrong with that?" Charlotte asked.

There was clear hurt and fear in the woman's eyes as she searched Charlotte's face, "He is very loved and we would miss him." She was breathing in emotionally and then grabbed her skirts, lifting them as she turned to walk away. The other two with her took the clothing they were washing as well as gathering those that Miriam had left in the water.

Charlotte found herself alone at this end of the stream, somehow having alienated herself, despite her efforts. They didn't join the older women, but rather, began speaking in quiet tones, comforting Miriam and glancing over Charlotte's way. This was not good. Charlotte stayed where she was at a distance and rubbed the small bar of natural detergent she had been given by the leader's wife into a stiff patch on the shirt she was washing. It ran dark red as she scrubbed.


	5. Just a Rope in the Ground

When the other women were about to leave, the leader's wife walked down the shoreline to Charlotte and said, "My sister in law is still a child, I hope whatever she has said to you that you do not take her outbursts personally."

"It's alright," Charlotte said. "I understand."

"I'm sure you think you do," she said. "We are leaving, come."

"I'm going to stay and finish," Charlotte said. "I know the way back."

Impatient the older woman said, "Women do no travel alone. You will come back with us now."

Despite her decision to attempt to fit in, Charlotte said as respectfully as she could, "I'll be fine. Hadrian will not blame you if something happens to me. Tell him I stayed on my own to finish."

The woman grew stiff and said, "I am not afraid of the parasite, only concerned that you will ruin his shirts by over washing them and I will need to make him another one."

Before Charlotte could speak, the woman turned to go and then led the rest of them away.  
Charlotte had her chance to find the Orchid site now, but instead of leaving right away, took the time to finish the shirt, and she did it correctly, taking care to squeeze as much water out as she could. She held it up in the sun and when she saw another dark spot, worked at it until the water ran clear.

This world was very complicated and yet the drama of their lives was compelling. She looked around in the quiet jungle and considered, just for a minute, of staying a while longer and learning more about what was happening. And then into her memory came the picture of Daniel's face, so devastated as she died. She had to try to go back. Nobody had ever loved her like that and Charlotte wasn't going to let go of hope.

She took the shirts she had washed and put them back into the bag he had given her and hung them safely in a tree where he would find them if she didn't return.

And then, she ran. She knew exactly where she was and where she had to go and she didn't slow down until her side was splitting. When she reached the area she knew to be where the Orchid had been built, there was nothing. No station, of course, but no well or any indication that anything had ever disrupted the surface. Except, a rope... there was a rope sticking out of the ground.

"This is it... this must be where Locke..." Charlotte got down on her knees, and desperately tried to dig at it, but only for a moment before she realized, it was useless. And she stopped. If he had succeeded, then the time shifts might have stopped altogether and she was stuck.

Even if she could get back by turning it, it was somehow deep below the earth in this time, how could she ever reach it? Her heart was rushing full of fear. Was this it? Was this all her life was going to be? No, Daniel would find a way. If there was anything she believed in, anything she knew could never fail her, it was his love. And he just so happened to be the world's premiere expert in time travel!

But... Daniel thought she was dead. Would her death cause him to give up on her?

Charlotte leaned over, a heaving of grief over came her and she began to cry. Why couldn't she have just died in his arms and let that have been the end? Death couldn't have been worse...

As she wallowed in her self-pity, someone came tripping into the clearing, out of breath and frantic until he saw her. Charlotte startled, bracing herself as Hadrian came at her and then stopped, putting his hands on his knees.

"What..." he started between breaths. "Were you thinking?" He stood up looking down at her and swallowed as he put his hands on his hips. "I almost lost you..."

"I know my own way back," Charlotte said. "I was only going for a walk."

His panting began to subside and he asked, dubious, "Kind of a fast walk, wasn't it?" She looked away, unwilling to lie further. "There are wild boars, bears, not to mention men who think those pants you wear are an invitation. Knowing your way back is not a guarantee that you will make it there."

"I'm sorry," she said, trying to be contrite. She didn't seriously believe her life was at risk, but she didn't want to argue if men in this era needed to believe that was the case.

"Oh, and by the way," he continued, "My shirts won't dry hanging in a bag like that, they'll all smell again if they aren't laid out flat. Don't they have mildew where you come from?"

"So you were spying on me?" she asked.

"Of course I was," he said and crossed his arms. "I didn't trust you to not to run off. And I wasn't wrong, so you have no right to be offended."

Charlotte looked up at him and his voice went soft, "Were you crying?" He came closer to look at her eyes and then slowly sat on the ground next to her, concerned. "What happened?"

"I'm fine," she said, pushing away a tear with the back of her hand. But the way his crystal eyes looked at her, his brows pushed together with such concern, she had to fight very hard not to break down.

He tilted his head and whispered, "Charlotte, I can't pretend to know what you're going through, but I'm here, aren't I? I'm trying. At least you aren't alone."

Despite feeling very alone, it did help her feel a little better that he was trying. She smiled and nodded through another droplet that sprung up in her eye. She chuckled a little, embarrassed as she wiped it away.

"I'm sorry for all of this... it's just, I'm very far from home."

"That I understand," he said. "I want to help you, I really do. Tell me how you got here and I'll do everything I can to help you get back."

"I wish you could," she said.

"Why can't I?" he soothed, he started to reach out his hand to touch her and then stopped. "May I?" he asked. She nodded and he placed his hand on her arm, gently rubbing it. "Trust me, Charlotte, explain it to me and I will listen until I do understand how to help you leave." He squeezed gently and said, "It's what I want more than anything, believe me."

"You won't believe me," she said. "I can tell you that."

"I will," he reassured. "I promise."

Licking her lips she saw no deception in his eyes, but still, her gut told her, it would frighten him or he would think she was as crazy as he thought his mother was. There was no Latin word for helicopter, so she explained as best she could. "A ship, that flies in the sky, dropped me here."

To her amazement, he spoke English, asking with an edge, "Daniel disappeared!" She was caught and his blue eyes glared at her as she struggled to answer. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and looked down. In Latin again he said,"I said I would believe you, but... if you contradict what I saw with my own eyes..."

"I time traveled," she blurted out. She looked at him expecting him to become angry as she explained, "I am from the future. There I said it. Do you believe me?"

He glanced at her and said, "You came here from the future?" She nodded, her chin up, daring him to challenge her. He looked her over and said, "In this future you come from, is it possible to leave the island?"

Charlotte chuckled nervously, "Yes, of course it is. And before I time traveled here, I did come to the island on a flying ship that dropped me here, that was not a lie. There just aren't any in this time. They haven't been invented yet."

"How do we time travel?" he asked as if it weren't insane.

"You believe me?" she asked, amazed.

"Your clothing and your social manners are consistent with that story, and I saw a man disappear in front of my eyes, so yes. But, you have to tell me how to do it if you want me to help send you back."

She gestured around where they were sitting and said, "There was a structure here where I come from and below it, in the ground there was a wheel. When the wheel was turned, we traveled... it was attached to a light in the island." His eyes grew large as she continued. "My hope was that if I turned it again, I could get back to where I came from." She gestured around as she finished, "But it isn't here, it's gone. There's nothing here."

"Did you say, a light?" he asked.

"Yes, under the ground," she clarified. She yanked on the rope and said, "Here."

"Under the ground?" he repeated, turning from her. His face was suddenly thoughtful. "Why didn't I think of that?" Looking at her again, he moved in another few centimeters and asked, "How does it work?"

"I don't know," she said. "Daniel understood it not me. I only remember where it was and what it looked like, I could draw you a sketch of it, but not how it worked."

"That could be enough," he said and got up walking around. "We dig for it then," he said turning to her.

"What?" she asked. "You and me? It's hundreds of meters down." When he seemed confused by her reference she pointed to a tree and said, "Four tree heights down into the ground! It would take forever to dig that deep!"

"I can get others to help us... and there might be other places where the light can be found where it isn't so deep."

"And how are you going to do that?" she asked standing up to face him. He stood back a few steps and she said, "Do you really think any of them will listen to you?" He clenched his jaw. "You're very sweet, Hadrian, but I don't think your people will have anything to do with something like this."

"Don't call me Hadrian," he said softly.

"Why not?" she asked. "You said I could choose what to call you."

"The last woman who did was murdered," he said. He started to walk away and said, "Are you coming back with me or am I going to have to knock you out with a rock and drag you back?"

Charlotte laughed lightly and then when he glared at her, fear shot through her. Suddenly she didn't doubt he'd do it. "I will dig and build what you're looking for," he said. "Even if I have to do it myself... or, you could help me convince them. You seem to understand people fairly well, I could use your charm. We could help each other."

Something about his confidence compelled Charlotte to not just to follow him, but to trust, he actually might be able to do it.


	6. The Conniving Begins

Time travel made sense of everything, especially why in the future Charlotte would only know Jacob and not him and why she thought his brother had powers. The way he figured it, their mother was going to make Jacob protect the light in her place and give Jacob her powers; and if Charlotte didn't know that Jacob had a brother, just maybe that meant he would have gotten off the island by then!

You couldn't know too much about the future, and he had already begun to season her with questions at every opportunity.

"You really are working wonders, Charlotte," he said, warming her up to talk as she was preparing for bed. "I think even the leader is being swayed. It's almost as if you've done this before."

"I'm used to working on teams with big egos," she said, "Believe it or not, people don't really change that much over time, the toys just do more."

He nodded with a smile. "I believe it. Toys like the flying ship... probably weapons too."

"Yes," she said, tucking the new hay she'd brought in under the rug she slept on.

"What kind?" he asked, playing dumb as he held up his small utility knife, "Special knives maybe?"

Charlotte looked glad to give up information tonight. "Guns," she said. She turned and sat facing him. "Imagine a knife you can aim at someone, pull a lever on it and stab them almost instantly at a distance... without it ever leaving your hand. Then you can immediately turn it on someone else and stab them at a distance too."

It was morbid and he asked,"How is anyone still alive in the future?"

"Respect," she said. "If you have a weapon people fear, they are less likely to do something to make you use it." She gestured at him and said, "It's like you looking at a man larger than yourself. You know better not to anger him, right?" He nodded. "Guns are the great equalizer, women can carry them and even large men won't mess with them."

He put away his small knife and knew better than to ask her to help him make a gun. When he pushed for too much information she shut him down, he had to be careful or she'd start suspecting every question he asked. But what she said did make him think about the ornate dagger their leader carried on his hip. He was a large man, that was true, but he also had the best weapon. He thought about what might happen if he had such a weapon, how the respect of the people might change.

"So when do you want to have this group meeting?" she asked.

Charlotte had been using her charm to lure people away on pretense to the places where metal behaved strangely. She had explained to him that people were more apt to be invested in mysteries than being told every detail and ordered what to do about it.

"I still haven't found someone to make the digging suggestion for us," he said. It had been her idea to have someone else take ownership, so that he wouldn't be blamed if they didn't find the light on the first attempt.

"I think I could lean the conversation in that direction," she said, as she continued to make up her bed. "It's going to be harvest soon, if we don't get started people will be too tired and busy to want extra work."

It was a good point. "I'll work on it," he said.

"What's this?" she asked, holding up a box.

"It's a game," he said. When she started to open it, he came over and took it from her. "It was a gift from my mother."

"It's Egyptian," she said.

He hated that she knew more about the world than he did.

"What's Egyptian?" he asked.

"They are a nation of people who live across the sea. It comes from the same culture as that statue your people are afraid to go near."

He gripped the box tightly and returned to his side of the hut and started to pack it away with other things he'd moved so she could have her own space.

"Is there something wrong with that?" she asked.

He stood up and said, "I guess I still had hope that not everything I was taught as a child was a lie."

He went out into the cool night air and walked towards the dying fire in the middle of the huts encampment. There was still some boar left roasting and since he hadn't helped with this hunt, he knew taking some of it would buy him grief, so he sat, hungry, smelling it and staring into the flames.

It didn't take long before his nemisis joined him.

"Hello, Miriam," he said without even looking at her.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked with a lilt as she walked around the fire on his right. "Do you really know my foot steps, or is it my perfume?"

"It's the fact that I can't have a moment to myself without you turning up," he said and looking at her added, "Despite having explained to you what happens when I don't have an alibi after we've been alone."

"We aren't alone," she said, looking around. "We're in the middle of everyone."

"That's why I sat here," he said. She sat down on a log across from him and he asked, "Why can't you leave me alone?"

"Because I don't think you really want me to," she said. When he he didn't answer, she smiled. "I like her, by the way."

"I don't care if you do or not," he said.

"I know someone else who likes her a lot more than I do." He waited and then heard the inevidable. "My brother."

"Of course he does," he said. "He'd have ten wives if he could get away with it. He's been with nearly every woman in the village."

"Rumors," she sang lightly. He didn't think so, but didn't argue. "Anyway, I told him that you and Charlotte aren't together and he can't understand how you could sleep that close to her without..."

"You know, Miriam," he interrupted, furious, "You have no right..." Her laughter broke off his sentence.

"I knew I'd get a rise out of you," she said pointing at him. He stared at her and she reassured, "I said nothing of the sort to him, don't worry."

He shook his head, trembling with either fear or fury; the last thing he needed was to have to worry more about Charlotte than he already did. So long as the men thought he would protect her with his life, they weren't likely to do something. But he wasn't. He wanted off the island, but not badly enough to die for it, yet. And knowing Charlotte, she'd fight back on any advance and she would be dead. Real dead and he wasn't ready to carry out their plan on his own.

He ran his hands over his head as Miriam got up and moved to a closer log. He hated this, but if he didn't engage her, she'd only get worse.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want to know what you're up to," she said. "Why do you think dragging us to these strange, mystical places around the island is going to get you off the island."

He covered his mouth and and looked at her, for as annoying as she was, Miriam did know him better than anyone. When they were kids she and her cousin were his best friends and it took him five years living with these people to learn, you can't be friends with girls. They always played games and used whatever loyalty you had to them against you. All women were insane, Charlotte to a lesser degree, but he was ready in case he was wrong.

Mocking her he said, "Maybe I figure I can dig a hole and come out on the other side of the world?"

Miriam laughed at his nonsense but then as she left, she slipped him a sandwich wrapped in a large leaf. He was humbled by her generosity and had to thank her.

But wouldn't you know it, once they did have their group meeting about the strange places on the island, it was Miriam who insisted that they dig. She had even insisted giving him the job of engineer, insulting him in front of everyone that he had nothing else useful to contribute. Of course, she then thought her cleverness at removing the suspicions between them meant he owed her, causing him a whole other set of problems.

"I think Miriam's in love with you, Sam," Charlotte said on the way back from surveying their intended dig site. She had been calling him a variety of names, hoping for one that would stick. This 'Samuel' she'd stuck with for a few days was growing on him.

"You know what I think," he snapped, "I think she hates my guts and just wants to see her husband or her brother kill me."

"I don't think it helped me telling her I'm in love with Daniel and not you."

He thought about that and said, "No, that was good, so long as the men don't find out. If Miriam thought we were together shed get jealous, make something up about you, get you killed and then I'd be digging wells on my own."

Charlotte stopped walking and he took a few steps before turning back to her.

"So my death to you means only that I'm not here to help you manipulate these people?" she asked.

"Am I anything more to you than a way home?" he asked.

"Maybe," she said.

"What about Daniel?" he asked.

"You can care about more than one person at a time, Sam," she said walking up to him. "I am in love with Daniel, but I see you as my friend... even if you weren't able to get me home, you've been a very good friend just for trying."

He'd only ever been nice to her so he could leave with her, but he didn't dare tell her that.

"Maybe," he said. "I never had a friend before." He was hoping for the sympathy smile and got it. That was the one thing that was dependable about women, their compassion. Even his mother, despite his abandoning of her, had used her power to give him this woman. This gorgeous woman. It was too bad about Daniel, he thought, he would have no difficulty winning her affection if it wasn't for the memory of a true love in the way.

And then he had an idea he never thought would actually work, but the fun of it was worth a try.

As they walked on he said, "Charlotte, if you ever have any ideas on how to get Miriam to leave me alone, let me know... because even though she'd be jealous, her thinking I'm with someone else is really the only thing I can come up with. She thinks I still care for her and I have no way of proving to her that I don't."

"Sure," Charlotte said lightly. It only took her a few minutes walking before she walked right into his rabbit trap. "I'm not afraid of her lies or convinced she'd tell them," she said. "We could pretend for a while... see if it works?"


	7. Truth is Stranger

Charlotte waited for his response, expecting, since he had led her into making it, that he would readily except. Pretending seemed a good compromise to adapt to this man's position in the society, since she had blown his cover by not lying as he'd instructed.

"I'm not comfortable with it," he said as they made their way back to the village. "Like I said, it could be dangerous for you."

"Truthfully," she said, "I don't think Miriam will be jealous enough for that and it will keep the men from being so jealous of you. I don't like the idea of anything happening to you either, Sam." That still felt odd and Charlotte said, "Samuel... you're more Samuel than Sam."

"I told you, whatever is fine. And I have to admit, I agree with you about the men. I'm tired of dealing with them constantly. I just, want to make sure I do right by _you_, Charlotte. You could be here a long time and you might eventually find someone you like besides Daniel. If I'm in the way..."

"Stop, Samuel, that is ridiculous." They were just coming up on the path that led through where the people would harvest their grain when she said, "I'd be more worried the other way... if something should happen to Miriam's husband, for instance."

Samuel shushed her, pushing her behind a tree. "Do not ever speak such things, unless you want to be gutted alive, do you hear me? Murder is taken very seriously and plots... they are weeded out as if they happened and dealt with swiftly, especially against the leaders and their families."

"I meant an accident," she whispered, disturbed that he could think otherwise. She glanced around and said, "And there's nobody here, why are you so jumpy?"

He backed off of her and put one hand on his hip and the other he ran over his head. "It's not been easy, is all." He gestured to her and said, "And now I have to worry about you as well as me."

"I'll be more careful," she said. "But you got my point, right? I mean, you do care for her, if she was ever single again..."

"No, I don't care anything for her. I stopped five years ago when her cousin was killed. Miriam decided it didn't matter to her how she felt about the man she was marrying, she was going along with the arrangement because he had a higher status. That did it for me, her marriage to him killed everything in me that cared about her."

She whispered, "Miriam's husband, killed her cousin then?"

He nodded, clearly upset by it and looking away. "I'm so sorry," Charlotte said. "How did you know? They said she drowned in an accident."

He shrugged off her question and asked, "Are things like this where you come from, everything arranged?"

"Arranged marriages are but what you're describing here we call 'forced'. And unfortunately they too are still around in my time for some cultures, but in most countries people are free to marry who they want... some don't even get married if they don't want to."

"Countries are Empires made up of villages... like Rome?" he asked.

"Something like that, yes," she said. "I come from an Island that is a country called England, though I lived on _this_ island as a girl."

"None of my people ever mentioned England is it very far?"

"If your people here are from Rome than, yes it was far from them, but not as far as this island."

Still confused he asked, "Are air ships faster?"

"Yes, they are, but also, the island moves," she said. Charlotte expected him to be surprised but he was so free from preconceived ideas that she thought Samuel might be open to anything she might say.

"Like a ship?" he said. "The island moves on the water?" She nodded. "Do continents move on the water?"

"No, just the island, it's special, the only island that moves that I've ever heard of. There are many special things about the island."

"Like the light?" he asked. "There's no other island with a light under it either, I bet."

Charlotte was amazed at how bright he was, but how short on education even about the very island he lived on. Though she wanted to share what she knew, she was starting to get the feeling again that maybe it wasn't such a good idea.

"The light is unique," she confirmed and then said, "We should probably get back. I'd like to help fix the meal tonight and earn us a seat at the fire."

"Alright," he agreed, and said and they started walking. "So, the plan is to pretend then? How do you want to do that?"

"Let's play it as we go," she said. "We know where we stand, with each other and I think you'll find flirting easy enough. We'll let them watch our interactions develop; it will seem more natural to them that way. Their imaginations can do the rest since we aren't changing our sleeping arrangements."

"I suppose that's safe enough," he said. "Are you sure Daniel wouldn't mind, I mean when we get to your time, I don't want to be facing someone with a gun."

Charlotte smiled and said, "We aren't going to do anything, Samuel, and Daniel will understand this is a life or death situation here. He's the most rational man I've ever met... smarter by far as well."

"Sounds like someone I'd like," he said as they resumed their journey on the path. "I guess you two were the non-marrying type of couple?"

"We only just realized how we felt," Charlotte admitted. "We met a few years ago preparing for a trip here, it's very difficult to find the island... we almost didn't make it. But once we did, while here, he..." Charlotte felt a rush of emotion just remembering it and smiled, trying to keep composed.

"What?" Samuel asked, "What did he do?"

"For years he never said a word about his feelings, he was too shy, I think. And then someone accused him of wanting to blow up the island with a bomb and he said he would never do that because that would hurt me and he was in love with me."

"And that's how he told you?" he asked. She smirked, nodding. "Very romantic," he announced. "I could never top that, I'm glad we're just pretending."

Charlotte chuckled and took in a deep breath, remembering how matter of fact Daniel had been about it. Yet he was also so intense about it. His thinking was on fire and clear as crystal; so different on the island than the confused man he had been back in the states.

"What's a bomb?" Samuel asked. "And what was it going to do, 'blow up'? Like wind?"

"Oh!" Charlotte said, "I'm sorry, I made another assumption." Gesturing with her hands she estimated the size of Jughead and said, "It was a large, hollow, metal outside with... a fire... kindling inside that when lit would..." She gestured her hands out into a big demonstration and she made the sound. She then used the English words, "A big explosion... boom!"

"A big explosion," he repeated. Then in Latin he said, "Another weapon to kill many people at once?" She nodded and as they entered the village he said, "People don't change much in the future, do they?"

"No, sadly," she said. But seeing one of the particularly gossipy young women watching them from afar, Charlotte took his hand and said, "But there is still love."

"Oh, so we're starting already?" he asked, clearly amused.

"Just a little," she said and pecked his cheek before she let go of his hand and ran off into the camp.


	8. Disgusting Proposal

His plans weren't going exactly as he expected, but close enough. They had three holes in three different locations being dug in shifts according to who was available and in the mood.

Charlotte was key in keeping them motivated, inventing ways to pique curiosity by performing experiments with metal that made the people marvel.

She was also using some of that flirting the two of them played with on a few of the other men who were the strongest diggers. It wasn't doing anything for the perception of him anyone had, but it kept them coming back to the sites.

"I think we may have been off on our calculations, can I see your diagram for this site?" Charlotte asked.

He and Miriam's husband were tying together a couple of large sticks for the shelter he was building at this fourth site and he could feel the condescension as he asked, "You got it from here, Sprout?"

"Yeah," he said, "Sure." When the man left, he turned to Charlotte and asked, "How was that 'pretending'?"

"Oh, I'm sorry... May I see the diagram, I think your calculations are off..." And then she batter her eyes and said sarcastically, "...darling."

It almost made him laugh but he shook his head and dug the parchment out of his pocket.

"He doesn't buy it anyway," she said. "The one person we're trying to fool is on to us and I'm sure she's told him."

"How do you know?" he asked watching her open it.

"Miriam doesn't let a day go by where she isn't asking for details about you. It creeps me out and I've half a mind to make something up just to see how she'd respond."

"Don't do that," he said. "She wouldn't believe you, and if she did, she'd be after me to ask about how true it was. We'd be better off just taking things up a notch where someone could see us doing something."

Once the note was unfolded Charlotte noticed the stain his cut lip had dripped on it.

"What's that?" she demanded. She looked at his face and grabbed his chin, examining the swelling that had likely almost gone down since this morning. "Who did this?"

"It doesn't matter," he said. Miriam's husband was just picking up his things and leaving. Helping here was a trade he made for not telling anyone about their altercation. Why it was a sudden secret, he hadn't figured out yet, but the help was welcome.

"It matters to me!" she insisted. He stared at her, refusing to say anything. "This has got to stop, Samuel" she said. "I'm tired of it."

When she looked around angrily and looked to want to say something to the man heading down the path away, he said, "What are you going to do, I'm a man and I can't stop it. You're not even married to me so you're lower than you would be if you were, the only reason they tolerate you is because you're so beautiful."

Charlotte turned back to him and the way her mouth puckered to the side and her eyes squinted, he thought at first she was putting on a show for someone, but there was nobody around now. He looked down.

"I don't know about anyone else, but you think so, don't you?"

He bent down to pick up another large stick and took the twine off of his belt to tie it. "Just fix the calculations," he said. "The sooner we can get off this island the sooner we won't have to worry about it."

"Well I'm sorry to break it to you, Sam, but if you can't defend yourself against this sorry lot of scoundrels, the men in the real world will eat you alive."

He couldn't dwell on that. He still had hope that people across the sea were different than those on the island; that there was a home for him that would be safe and stable where people didn't bully each other like they did here.

"Here you go," she said, "This right here."

She was trying to show him, but he just shrugged it off. "Change it then, I don't need to understand it."

"You're the engineer," she said.

"In name only," he said.

"Oh brother, are you... are you feeling sorry for yourself? It's no wonder people use you as a punching bag. You have no confidence what so ever."

Controlling his desire to strike out, he laid the large stake down on the ground and stood. He was about to tell her exactly how much he wanted to take out some of his confidence on her face when female voices could be heard coming up the path.

Charlotte heard them too and took a step towards him. "Don't move," she said and then leaned in close, her hand slipping under his arm and drawing him closer.

A second ago he had wanted to slap her and now she was kissing him. When he first invented this scheme of pretending he thought it would be a fun distraction, something he might enjoy even; but every day she'd turned it into a power play and now he was, again, being controlled by the game he'd set up.

As Charlotte remained on his mouth, he heard the other women get quiet suddenly and one gasped. It was Miriam, he'd know her voice anywhere.

Suddenly inspired, he dropped the twine in his hand and pulled Charlotte against him, one hand in her hair, the other under her soft curves. He opened his mouth over hers and hoped as he pressed into her she could feel how sincerely he was responding.

"Let's go, I suppose my husband is not here after all," he heard Miriam utter. And then came the sound of footsteps walking away.

Charlotte's hands went to his chest and out of breath she pushed him off of her abruptly, her eyes wide. At least she had waited long enough for the women to not see her before she swung her fist at his jaw.

"That was disgusting," Charlotte spat as he held it. She hit harder than Miriam's husband. He glared at her and she glanced down and added, "You weren't playing..."

He turned away, that was the first time he felt he not only deserved a punch, but that it was also worth it.

"If you didn't enjoy it as much as me," he said, "Then you better hope it worked and we won't have to do it again."

He began to finish up on the shelter and she said, "I'm done pretending. I don't care anymore what happens to you. You went too far."

Hearing her walk away, likely into the jungle again. He didn't care either. At this point, he was beginning to think he could spare her. He had her drawings of the wheel and he understood the experiments she had been conducting. He knew the calculation was off and was testing her. He could figure the rest out once they found the light.

When the shade shelter was up he was about to head home when he was surprised to have the one man who had never yet lowered himself to dig visit this new site, the leader.

"Parasite, do you have a moment?"

He didn't answer at first and then asked as if surprised, "Oh, are you talking to me? I go by Samuel."

"There's nobody else here," he pointed out. "And what are you but a parasite? You contribute nothing but tiring us out with these silly holes in the ground and with this woman we have yet another unproductive mouth to feed."

"You accuse me of whatever you want," he defended, "But Charlotte's designed more useful tools in her time here than any woman in this camp." He pointed at a pile of neatly cut posts and said, "The saw that cut these saved us a days work."

"So she helped you build a shelter you don't need to sit under so you can stay cool next to a hole we don't need to dig?"

It was pointless.

"The people voted, they are here on their own time and still doing everything else that needs to be done... your biggest problem is you don't see the value in..." he tapped his finger to his temple and said, "mind stimulation."

"Are you calling me stupid?" The man put his hand on his dagger and stood in challenge. "Don't you fear me?" he asked.

The truth was, he didn't. This man's sister was the only person the leader cared about and he doubted he'd do anything to hurt the man she loved. But he could be wrong, so he lied.

"Of course I fear you," he said. "You could kill me anytime and order any of this to stop. But you haven't, so... why are you here?"

The man relaxed and stood upright again.

"I have a proposal," he said.

Now that was interesting. Dusting off his hands, he put them on his hips and nodded up at the man.

"I want your woman for my wife... My sister has told me Charlotte doesn't please you and you have been pretending to protect her because you need her help with the wells. I am sure I can convince Charlotte to please me and I will protect her for you. So, in both our interests, I am willing to trade Miriam for her. "

It had to be a trap.

"Miriam is married," he said.

"Her husband is old, he's been productive, but he's getting too tired... and the truth of it is, you are being helpful to keep the people happy. I do see that. There is less fighting since we have this useless hole digging. Miriam has helped me see that... and Charlotte. So, I want you to take a bigger role in camp... to help us do other tasks your way."

"Old or not, he's not going to stand down to have Miriam taken," he said.

"That's why you're going to have to kill him," he said.

It _was_ a trap. "No," he said. "You do it."

"I can't, everyone knows I have my eye on Charlotte, but they think you hate Miriam. If you do it and claim self-defense, everyone will believe it. He hit you again this morning didn't he?"

The man gestured to his mouth and when he touched it he saw, Charlotte had struck blood too. He didn't clarify.

"I'll stand in witness for you," the leader said. "And when he's dead, you and Charlotte will admit to everyone that you have been feigning this romance to keep Miriam's husband away, and I will ask her to be my wife. I am sure she will say yes... and if she doesn't, you will help me convince her."

"What about the wife you have?" he asked.

"I'm tired of her and she knows it. She has agreed for me to take a second wife if she can maintain her status."

He thought about it and a plan started to develop in his mind.

"Alright," he said. "On one condition."

The man smiled, an infantile grin as if he'd just been lucky at a betting game. "Name it."

"I want to kill him with your dagger."


	9. Convoluted Causal Loop

Whenever Charlotte was feeling upset or needed to get away from the tribe she went to the Orchid station, or she should say, the rope. She would sit beside it, cross-legged, holding it as she would think through what she was doing and feeling and how she should be acting.

This was where they _should_ be digging, even if it took them years, the wheel was supposed to be down a well built in this very spot. How amazing that thanks to the time travelers who had found it before, they now knew exactly where to dig! And Charlotte was convinced, because of his passion for leaving that Hadrian was the one who built the wheel.

Because she told him about it.

Charlotte had started some incredibly convoluted causal loop that she bet would have blown even Daniel's mind.

Thinking of Daniel, she let go of the rope and pressed her palms into her eyes, cringing again at what she had instigated with Hadrian. Samuel she used when speaking to him and in front of others, but in her mind, he was as the drowned woman had called him, the dark man from the sea. It fit him so much better. He was moody and thought of nothing else but how to travel over the sea. Nothing else seemed to matter to him.

He wasn't necessarily a bad man because of it, though. In all of the flirting they'd engaged in over the past few months, Hadrian had never touched Charlotte inappropriately, not once. It was _she_ who by kissing him, had given the clearance for his overly amorous behavior.

And as much as Charlotte loathed the men who constantly blamed Hadrian for their issues, she had done no better by striking him afterward; as if she shouldn't expect him to make the best of the opportunity _she'd_ provided? She knew what kind of man he was. She knew he was attracted to her. She should have predicted it and never have kissed him.

If only she had kissed Daniel that way...

Picking up the rope with one hand Charlotte leaned her head on her hand and thought again about her time on the island before she arrived in this time flash. She had forgotten so much of it because of her temporal displacement sickness.

What she couldn't forget was that Daniel had stayed with her. She knew the others were going to the Orchid; but only now did she recall that they had discussed the Orchid might not be there in every time shift. She closed her eyes trying to remember the conversations.

She had shouted at Jin in Korean... she wished someone had kept her from coming back.

She'd told Daniel about how he'd frightened her as a child. She still had that memory, he hadn't changed the past.

And while some of her memories were of her childhood, she had also felt like she was reliving others, she had seen people who weren't there and she had babbled crazily. But Daniel had stayed with her in the end. It always came back to that, he had never left her side.

She gave the rope a good yank and suddenly Charlotte remembered, she had told them to look for a well! It made sense now, but how had she known back then? Was it some temporal displacement giving her future thoughts of what she was going to do?

No! It was in one of their shifts, she remembered it now. She had thought she was hearing things and hadn't told anyone. But the afternoon before they were attacked by the fire arrows, Charlotte had spoken with someone in the jungle. She thought it was a hallucination at the time, but blinking now she realized it must have been... _him_. Hadrion had spoken to her, that's how she knew!

Charlotte was surprised when a papaya fell next to her, as if tossed from a distance.

"Who's there?" she asked.

"Shhh!" he said and then whispered, "I finished the wheel, Charlotte. It's in the well. You know where."

"Who are you?" she asked. It had made no sense to her.

Another papaya was tossed towards her. This time she left it and stormed in the direction from which it had been tossed. She looked around in the trees but there was nobody there.

Further off she heard, "I'm sorry for what I did to you. You were probably my only real friend. I should never have left you."

The clicking sound that followed had disoriented her further, convincing Charlotte it was a hallucination. She'd retrieved the papaya and returned to Daniel, saying nothing.

But it was real!

Bombarded with a mixture of feelings, Charlotte didn't know how to respond to this memory. What was he sorry for? Was it for that gruesome kiss, or was he going to do something much worse? The thought that he would leave her scared her, but Charlotte didn't doubt it. Maybe he used the wheel and left her on the island? But then, why show up to tell her... unless he was trying to help them! Maybe he knew she was dying because of the time shifts and wanted them to find it more quickly.

But what happened, happened, as Daniel would say.

At least, whoever he was now, whatever he was going to do, he would try to make it right some day. He wouldn't save her, but maybe, he had saved Daniel. For that kindness, for trying to save Daniel, Charlotte decided she would dedicate herself to being that one friend Hadrian ever had.

It was getting late and as she got up and walked back to the village, Charlotte was suddenly overcome with a gut wrenching realization. That time shift was in 1954! This man, so desperate to leave the island would be stuck here for thousands of years from now! She didn't understand how that could be, if he was somehow still alive, or maybe just a ghost. But he would never leave. It was as sad to her as anything could be, especially knowing if she ever told him, what that would do to him. And how he might not finish building the wheel and send her home.

But then again, maybe he wasn't going to anyway...


	10. Rattlesnake

Sitting outside of his hut sharpening his spear, he tried to look unconcerned and casual. The family across from him knew, though, and so did the brothers that lived next to him. Miriam, of course knew and likely her circle of friends, so it was only a matter of time before... here he came.

"Where's Charlotte?" Miriam's brother demanded, likely already considering her his property. "It's been dark for a long time!" For the leader to come all the way down to the lower ranking huts was uncommon, everyone would know now.

"She went for a walk, I'm sure she'll be back soon."

The bigger man kicked the log he was sitting on and thankfully expecting it, he caught himself before he fell backwards onto the ground. "She better be," he said.

The man was an idiot. That exchange was going to set the rumor mills going and to keep himself alive he would have to exploit it. Still, he was nervous. If something did happen to her, none of this was going to matter anyway.

Once his spear point was sharp, he ducked inside his tent and pulled out his torch. He walked to the fire where Miriam, her sister in law and a few other women were cooking a stew they likely wouldn't be sharing. Without a word he dipped the torch in. He glanced up at Miriam, who's eyes fluttered.

"Where are you going, Sprout?" the leader's wife asked.

Keeping his eyes on Miriam he said, "To find my woman."

Her lips parted and she looked up at him with the audacity to appear hurt. It _was_ her plan, not her brother's. She was the one who wanted him to kill her husband and she was using her brother's interest in Charlotte to make it happen. If her old husband was just a man, born to be a bully and take out all his frustrations on someone else, there would be no question in his mind of creating a deadly end to the daily abuse he had to endure.

But Miriam had _made_ him that way, she tormented him with jealousy and the thought of being stuck with her made his stomach churn. She didn't need to know how he really felt, not yet. So he let the corner of his mouth turn up ever so slightly until her lips curled in her attempt at seduction.

"I'll be back soon," he said and took his leave.

First he stopped at the tent where the men were gambling and when they saw him, Miriam's husband threw a cup at him. He was drunk again.

"You're not invited!" he grumbled.

The leader stood and said, "Do you want assistance, I could order some men to accompany you?"

"No, this is my problem," he said. "But I could use another weapon... in case there are others that took her."

Despite playing to the leader's favorite pet theory of the dangers of the island, he still wasn't budging. He put his hand on his dagger and shook his head. "You may take my spear, though."

"I have a spear," he said, turning. "Wish me well that I find her alive." He looked at Miriam's husband and added, "Though I know there are those here who wish to see me suffer in any way they can..."

"I didn't touch your ugly woman," he spat. "Not for lack of her trying!" He laughed and was joined by the other men who seemed embarrassed to laugh.

He just left them, heading straight into the jungle. He wouldn't pretend he wasn't worried, but he knew where she was; it's where she always went and he wasn't even a quarter of the way there when she appeared on the path. He stood and waited, watching as she approached, no fear, no rush, as if walking alone at night was nothing to her. He had to admire her courage even if he hated her stupidity.

"It got dark fast!" she said with a light laugh. "Thank you for coming for me. I tripped over something back there and cut my leg."

He continued to stare at her, wanting to chastise her, but thinking it would do no good unless he was so brutal he alienated her from him completely. Maybe it would be _better_ for her if she belonged to someone else; someone who could keep her in line... and safe.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "I'm fine... I just... was caught up remembering things..."

"I'll tell you what's wrong. Since I've been with this tribe four men have disappeared, two women and six children. We don't know what happened to the children, but three of the adults had their bodies found in the morning impaled, broken and otherwise deformed." He turned and started walking back to camp.

"What?" she asked. "And what about the others, how did they just disappear? Like Daniel disappeared?"

"No, not like Daniel," he said. "We don't know what happened to them, their bodies were never found. Some think there are others living on the island who take them, some think there's a monster that killed and ate them... some think they just fell off cliffs or got lost."

"Well, why didn't you tell me this sooner?" she asked.

He stopped walking again and faced her. "Because most people just follow the rules but you, you Charlotte seem to think they don't apply to you."

"Rules like leaving camp at night?" she asked briskly.

"Yes," he said.

"You just left camp," she pointed out, folding her arms. "Do the rules not apply to you either?"

He sighed. "Some rules supersede others. So yes, I broke one rule so that I could follow a more important one. Men are expected to risk their lives for their women. If they don't, questions arise as to their loyalty and devotion and she can become available to be another man's wife." He gestured at her with his hand that held the spear, "Do you want it to be assumed that you are available?"

Charlotte shook her head and looked contrite.

"Are you sure, because I could have sworn that you thought I was disgusting..." He tilted his head and said, "A term I've only heard used for the foulest stench of death."

"About that," she said. "I was wrong to kiss you, I shouldn't have led you on like that... and I'm sorry I hit you. I shouldn't have called you that either. My Latin is spotty and it was all I could think of... really, I just didn't expect... It went too far, that's all I was trying to say."

He wasn't expecting all this cordiality. He was hoping to get into a good row with her, and have an excuse when they returned to camp to put her out of his tent so the leader would cause a scene defending her.

Going a different route he said, "You really hurt me."

"Oh no... no... I'm so sorry," she said. Again with the predictable compassion. Her hand on his bare arm felt smooth. "I never meant to do that... it... it wasn't so bad, really. It's just that my heart belongs to someone else."

He licked his lips and looked away, pretending like his heart was breaking, and then heard a sound behind them like a giant rattle.

"Oh my god," Charlotte said, "That sound... I know that sound..."

He only knew of it and whispered to her, "Run, back to the camp, quickly!" He turned to face whatever it was. Backing away, he lifted his torch up and the spear ready and high.

"I'm not going without you," she said. How ridiculously stupid, and surprisingly heartening. "What is it?" she asked.

"Some sort of snake," he guessed. " A giant one, from the sound of it...Back up, let's get on the flat path and we can hopefully out run it."

"Outrun a giant snake?" she asked. "You're better off spearing it, don't you think?"

He agreed, but if he couldn't see it, how could he? He didn't bother to argue with her. The sound got louder and seemed to come from more above them, which was all the more frightening. Charlotte was holding on to his arm and he wouldn't be able to toss the spear if she did that. "Take the fire," he said. "Hold it high."

When she lifted it and they looked, he squinted at what he saw, wondering how their little torch could cause so much thick smoke, but it was the only fire around. And then suddenly, the smoke vaporized and the sound passed away into the distance. The smoke was the sound!

His heart raced and his skin felt cold as ice. Never as long as he lived had he been so frightened. When he looked at Charlotte and saw her, brave as usual, he was mortified and pointed down the path. "Go, before it comes back. And we don't say a word to anyone until I can figure out what that was."

As soon as they got back into camp he scrapped his idea to cause a scene and instead led her directly into the hut.

"Do you need anything, because I would rather get it for you, if you don't mind."

"That's sweet," she said, as if he wasn't locking her up to keep her big mouth quiet. "We have water and nuts here, so I'm fine," she said. Then she added, "Oh, I could use some aloe for my foot... I think Miriam or her sister in law have some."

He glared down at her where she sat. He was not fond of traveling to that end of the camp. When she looked up he asked, "How is it you have no fear of anything? Is that a side effect of dying?"

Charlotte laughed lightly and said, "Hey, I wasn't the one with the spear facing down some smoke monster... I was wondering the same thing about you, Hadrian... I mean, Samuel."

After her flattery, the name she'd called him made his heart flutter. At least he didn't let his fear show. And he did like the name and the memories it brought to him; but more so because it also could work for his plan. "I prefer Hadrian," he said. And then to flatter her he said, "I like the way it sounds when you speak it... but only when we're alone?"

He also liked her smile. She nodded and he gave one back to her. She'd slip up, he knew it. They always did.

Coming out of his hut he was approached by the leader who looked relieved. "She's alright then?" he asked.

Whispering he said, "Yes... she's fine." He looked around and when the leader did as well the eyes that were on him shifted.

The large man shook his head and said, "You'd better hurry and do what I told you to, I'm not good at deception."

"Then we do it my way?" he asked. The man put his hand back on his precious dagger. "You can keep that if you must, but... _you_ have to do it then. I will give you the opportunity and it will look like you were protecting me. I will owe you in everyone's eyes, and Miriam will be very grateful, I'm sure... as well Charlotte. We aren't together, but she cares for me."

Of course that sounded wonderful to this man. He was a leader by birth and strength alone. This was just the beginning; if this worked, he could run the camp by proxy.

"Now, can you do me a favor?" he asked. "Charlotte is wounded, we need aloe."

"I'll send someone with it," the leader said, leaving.

Returning to his tent, he guessed who would return with it and wanted to set up a good scenario for her to happen upon.


	11. Settling or Setting up?

Charlotte had learned to change quickly and discretely but she had expected Hadrian would be gone longer this time to get the aloe and had to turn quickly and pull down the dress when he entered their hut.

He didn't say a word, just squatted down in the corner where he kept his things and rustled about. She finished pulling the skirt of the dress under where she was sitting and looked over her shoulder at him. He seemed preoccupied.

Flipping through a notebook she had constructed, he stopped at an empty page and wrote something down. When she had first seen him writing on a scroll several months ago Charlotte had explained to him about Daniel's notebook and then had put together a twenty page binding for him as a way for him to keep more information in one place than his box of scrolls he would have to sort through.

When he put the book back onto the Senet box she said, "Why don't we ever play that game of yours?"

"Because it's always the same, even after I taught you the rules, I'd still beat you every time... it's boring for me not to be challenged."

She had played it before but wasn't sure she'd be competition and so instead asked, "Well why keep it then if there's nobody to play?"

"I didn't say there was nobody to play, just nobody here," he said. He glanced over at her and said, "How do you know Jacob anyway?"

She had been waiting for when he asked and had designed a truthful, yet vague answer. "My employer mentioned if ever I got into a jam, the natives on the island might respond if I evoked the name Jacob," she said. "He was their leader and there was some mythology about him, but it was obviously a different Jacob. Your brother would have been long dead by then."

It seemed to satisfy him for now and she was about to ask him about the aloe when he turned and sat, facing her.

"I've been thinking about us," he said. Charlotte took a breath, bracing herself for the need to set boundaries between them in a kind way, but he surprised her. "We're not going anywhere, I can see that," he said. Charlotte gave him a sympathetic look as he continued. "I mean, I don't blame you, I just tried to have hope for a while that you'd forget Daniel... now that I know that's never going to happen, I'm reconsidering Miriam's offer."

"What offer?" Charlotte asked, uneasy. That woman was nothing but trouble as far as she could tell.

"I'm never going to find someone who loves me like she does, well, if you can call it love... whatever it is, who wants me like she does. I might as well settle for what I can get."

"I thought you were going to find someone across the sea," she said.

"Eventually, but look how long it's taking us to dig... it'll be years. I don't want to wait that long. She's here and wants me now."

"The question is, do you want _her_," Charlotte said.

"It's not like I'm the kind of guy that can be picky," he said.

"Alright, but there's still the problem of her husband," Charlotte said.

"I'd risk it," he said with a shrug. He gestured at her and said, "I risked my life facing down whatever that thing was for _you_, why not take my chances her husband will find out and get something out of the arrangement?"

"What will you be getting?" Charlotte asked. He tilted his head and raised his brows. "Sex is not worth death," she laughed.

"There's no guarantee I'd die," he said. "He's never tried to kill me before, and if he did, I'd kill him first. He's just not raised it to those stakes before... plus, she and I could be discrete..." Charlotte shook her head and he said, "He thinks we are anyway, it's not like anything is going to change except I'm actually..." He raised his brows quickly again and looked down.

"You _hate_ her, Hadrian," Charlotte said, "This makes no sense to me."

"She's not so bad, utilitarian wise," he said with a smirk. "It'd actually be a better arrangement than having to live with her." He forced a cringe at the thought.

Charlotte laughed at that, feeling at the same time flattered that he didn't mind living with her; but did he?

"Oh come on," she teased, "She couldn't be any worse than me with my snoring and midnight trips to the loo."

It was rare to see him chuckle and she felt happy to lift his spirits, but was curious for his response.

"True," he said nodding.

She tried to hide that it wasn't what she wanted to hear, but he rolled his eyes at her. He was a smart man and her mixed signals were probably very confusing and frustrating.

"Would anything change between us?" she asked.

"No," he said. Then he got up and moved to the door flap before he said, "I just wanted you to know what I was planning out of respect so you'd be prepared. I just can't control myself with Miriam anymore." Lifting his brows he said, "Are you okay with it?"

"Of course I'm nervous for you," she said. "But it's your life."

Hadrian said nothing else and oddly just stood there. Then there was a call from the other side of the flap.

"Hello? I have your aloe..." It was Miriam and when Hadrian opened the door her eyes locked on him like a vulture.

In a low gravely tone he said, "Thank you, Miriam."

"You're welcome," she said and leaned over, whispering something. Hadrian hummed and ran his knuckle down her arm before she left.

"Wow," Charlotte whispered when she was gone. "I don't know what to say."

He didn't respond, just tossed her the small piece of plant, arranged his sleeping mat and pillow and laid down. She watched him close his eyes and after she put the goo on her wound she saw he was laying still. "I'll get the candles then..." Charlotte said and then blew them out. She lay down unable to put out of her mind what a terrible idea it was, but understandable, given his circumstances.

If it wasn't for Daniel, her mind started and then she put it out of her thoughts. Even if there was no Daniel, Hadrian deserved more than someone who could only show him sympathy. At least Miriam could offer him something real, even if he was just using her.

"Charlotte," he whispered.

"Yeah, Hadrian?"

"It's not Miriam's husband I'm worried about. It's her brother..."

She agreed and said, "It's really a bad idea."

"Do you think... just as a favor to me, that you could keep on his good side? Keep an eye on him for me?"

"I already am, I think, but yeah. I'll watch your back."

"Thanks," he said. "You're a real friend." Charlotte smiled in the dark and then he added, "I almost forgive you for calling me disgusting."

At that she laughed and said, "Good night Hadrian." He didn't answer.


	12. Change in Command

"Hey, parasite!"

This was really bad timing. The leader was still out on the hunt and Charlotte was a few minutes behind him at the well. She was walking back with a family that had brought their children to the dig site to learn about her experiments.

"I'm kind of busy," he said, continuing to walk to the village. It was mid-afternoon, but he'd been digging straight since sunrise and was aching all over. All he wanted to do was drop off his tools at his hut and get to the stream.

But if opportunity was upon him, he may have to go with it. He couldn't hold Miriam off for much longer without her expecting him to make good on what she'd overheard. The swing coming at him from behind was accompanied by a grunt and he easily ducked out of it's way.

The older man fell forward, tripping and landing on the ground. Drunk already, he wasn't going to be much of a challenge, but still, he needed the leader here for this to work!

"Hey," he said. "You okay?" He offered his hand to him and the drunk man sneered.

"I know what you're doing with her... with my WIFE."

He could hear Charlotte coming now and he was relieved, but sighed at the man and continued walking. He needed to be where more people to see what was happening, and it could also buy him time. Unfortunately he was going to have to let himself get hit a couple times for it to look believable. That was never fun.

"Where are you going? I'm not done with you," Miriam's husband called from the ground.

Stopping in front of a few hunters that were thankfully returning he said, "I don't know what you're talking about. As usual, I was up at the well and your wife is there, in her tent, sewing."

"How'd you know that?" he demanding with wild eyes, coming at him. "If you weren't set on _visiting_ her!"

He lunged and the two of them fell on the ground together. He threw his pick to the side just in time so that neither of them would be impaled.

On his back he grumbled, "I'm crusted with dirt, do you really think she'd go for that?"

He pushed the older man up slightly, feeling sorry for him because at his age and his state of drunkenness, he really should be napping about now.

"And how would you know what she goes for?" he demanded. The fist that came at him sunk in without much impact so the second one he turned his head with to make it look worse than it was.

"Hadrian!" Charlotte shouted on cue. How perfect that she had slipped right then.

The old man's eyes went wide in fury. "It _was_ that you then? You were with my first wife too!"

The next fist actually did hurt pretty badly, catching him right in his eye and splitting some skin, he was sure. When he struck again, the pain turned riled up his anger and he decided not to allow another. The hunters were back, after all.

"Stop it!" Charlotte shouted. She came to help, but Miriam and her sister in law held her back. "Let go of me!" Charlotte said.

Pushing his attacker off completely, he looked at her and said, "I've got this, he's drunk, not dangerous." The other women let her go and Charlotte begrudgingly listened.

Instead of getting up and away as he might if he wanted to end it, he scooted back in the dust and gave the old man a challenging glare. Predictably, the man came back at him, but struggled with his foot catching on a rock.

"What are you going to do, kill me with drool?" he spat at him to keep him coming.

Behind the man he saw the leader arriving and suddenly got nervous. This was it... He was wearing his dagger and eagerly came at them.

"I'll kill you anyway I can," Miriam's husband said. "You filthy, perverted, parasite!"

As he rushed towards them the leader unsheathing his weapon. Those around them were surprised but knew better than to do anything.

"No!" Charlotte shouted and just as he knew she would do, she went after him to stop the attack.

The leader was too dead set on his brother in law and his dagger went straight through him first before he pulled it out and turned on the woman grabbing his hair and tunic. She wasn't strong enough to do much against the huge man but pull him back, but it was enough to infuriate him and he turned on her with his bloody dagger.

Jumping to his feet, pick in hand, he shouted, "Don't touch her!" As he had imagined a hundred times he came down with all the deadly strength he'd been building while digging for months and sunk the tool square between the shoulders of their leader.

Charlotte screamed and let go of the falling man, covering her mouth, horrified. The others standing around had gasped as well but he deflected their attention to him by turning to the old man on the ground. He was still alive!

"Miriam, he's still alive!" he said to her. "But he's bleeding!" Looking down again he said, "Someone, get a cloth!"

As he knelt down next to the old man he glanced around to ascertain the reactions and saw the one that might help him the most: The leader's wife. She stood over her husband who lay still, face down with a pick sticking out of his back and she wept no tears.

Miriam came with a clean cloth and feigning concern said, "Will he be okay?"

Charlotte came with a cloth as well. Reaching over to where the large dagger had fallen out of the leader's hand, he picked it up and cut off the old man's shirt. He was so numb with drink his cringe was likely a reflex.

"I'm too dirty for this," he said, sitting back and letting Charlotte take over. "Someone, get water...to clean the wound," he said. They all stared at him strangely, and he ordered, "Now, so we might save him!"

A few women ran to their huts and the men came closer and looked down on their wounded comrade, a couple actually stepped over the big, dead leader they had all been too afraid of to confront their entire lives.

He gripped the dagger tight in his hand and asked Charlotte, "How bad is it? Is he going to live?"

"It went clean through, I'm pretty sure it hit his liver..." She looked up and when she shook her head, Miriam let out a cry that sounded so fake to him he felt sick to his stomach. "I'm so sorry," Charlotte said to her. "He probably has a few hours... until dark, at least. But there's nothing I can do... I studied anatomy, but I'm not a doctor."

Miriam nodded and knelt down next to him.

Gesturing with the dagger at Miriam he said, "You tell your husband, while he's still awake."

"Tell him what?" Miriam asked.

"That you were faithful!" he said for all to hear. "We have no reason to lie now and he deserves to die knowing that you loved him."

She nodded and as Miriam did as she was told with dramatic flare, Charlotte stood up. But he turned to the leader's wife who looked down her nose at him.

"You killed my husband," she said.

"I was protecting the woman I love," he said to everyone. "And I challenge any man to tell me he would not have done the same thing were a man to come at their unarmed woman with a dagger." He held it up to show them. "He had just killed an old, drunk. What was I to expect he would do to a woman?"

Except for a few grunts and nodding, there was silence. No immediate challenge was a good sign. He was one step closer...

"Who would dare challenge you," the widow said to him. She looked at the dagger in his hand and said, "Now that the dagger is yours."

He hadn't expected her to confirm the mystical weapon as being in his possession, but she likely knew he would eventually take over the tribe now and a widow would need someone to stand up for her. Without so much as a ceremonial nod to her slain husband, she left his body laying there and went to her hut. Nobody dared go and comfort her.

He sighed and went to the dead man and putting his foot on his shoulder to steady him as he pulled out his pick. He then unfastened the belt and sheath off of his limp body and flipped him over. His eyes were still wide and his mouth agape; a face frozen in shock.

"We should put this body on the edge of camp until we can dig a grave in the morning," he said to this dead man's former companions. They immediately began to move him.

This was going to easier than he thought!

"Shouldn't you... dig the grave now?" Charlotte asked softly.

"Why?" he asked. She came closer and pulled him aside. The other women were gathering around as Miriam held her dying husband's hand and spoke soothingly to him.

"Another thing my employer told me," Charlotte said, "Was that there were ghost stories on the island. That thing we saw, it may have been part of them... but there was more. He said the natives believed the dead would come back and speak to them sometimes, especially if they weren't buried right away."

He didn't have to think about it twice and walked over to the where the men were. As insane as his mother was, and as little sense as most of the women here seemed to have, Charlotte's stories of time traveling, magic wheels and now reanimation went beyond all reason; yet he never doubted her for a second.

"We bury him tonight," he said. "And we dig a whole for Miriam's husband as well for when he passes." One of the men sighed heavily and he added angrily, "I did not kill this man because I wanted to - I respected him and his leadership, as you all did and as we should of anyone who owns the dagger. That is our way. Now that he's gone, it's a sign of disrespect to leave his body for the animal's. We have the tools and the knowledge to dig quickly, don't we? So let's do it... Charlotte, get a few women to hold the torches, let's make this quick."

It was nearly dawn by the time they were done with both holes. He brushed off as much of the caked on dirt that covered him, using the rest of their drinking water for his face and the wound on his eye. Miriam and the women were still gathered around her husband, weary, but vigilant. He nodded at her as he went back to his hut, exhausted.

When he lay down he could tell by the silence that Charlotte was not sleeping yet.

"You okay?" he asked.

"No," she said. "What's going to happen now?"

"Now, I'm going to be the leader," he said calmly. "And I will likely have two wives. One old and wise that nobody wants. The other young and amorous who wants nobody but me. And you, a loyal friend who I will defend to remain alone for as long as she wants. I'll get you your own tent, right next to the big one I'm going to take over."

She was quiet for a long time and he smiled, wondering if his ploy to make her jealous would work.

"Was it true what that old man said about his first wife?" she asked.

There was no reason to deny it now. "Yes," he said. "But it was before she was forced to marry him and before I knew what the rules were. I was a stupid, horny kid who didn't even know what marriage was or what would happen if anyone found out."

"And he killed her?"

"On her wedding night... if you know anatomy like you say you do, it's not something women can hide. He took her down to the stream and drowned her, but not before he got my name. Thankfully nobody but the women knew she'd been calling me that... if he had half a brain and hadn't underestimated me he could have figured it out."

"The women said it was an accident," she said.

"Yeah, that's what they told the women, but Miriam and I knew," he said.

"And she married him anyway?"

"Yes, yes she did," he said.

"Did you love her?" she asked.

"What did I know about love at sixteen, Charlotte? She was beautiful, she was willing, that's all you need at that age."

"Only at sixteen? What about your _amorous_ wife?" Her tone was disgusted as she accused, "Seems like will is all that _you_ need, Hadrian. No matter your age."

He smiled in the dark. "It's cold and lonely at night, Charlotte. Can you blame me for wanting to make my life more comfortable?"

"This was the plan all along," she said. "And I was part of it. You knew I would try to help you and you risked my life..."

He sat up and said in an angry whisper, "Charlotte, that man I killed came to me and told me to kill Miriam's husband so that I could have her and he could force you to be his wife..."

"What?" she said. "But they were supposed to think I was with you!"

"Miriam made sure they didn't believe it. And as leader he can make our lives miserable if we don't go along with what he wants. But you know what, Charlotte, they can beat me up and call me names but _nobody_ tells me what I can't do."

He waited for her response and was almost scared she wouldn't believe him.

"I had no idea," she finally said. She sat up and said, "But you should have told me everything, Hadrian... I could have helped you find a better solution than _murder_."

"It wasn't murder, he was going to kill you. It was in defense of you, as is my right."

She wasn't buying it and exclaimed indignantly, "You arranged the entire thing! You knew he would threaten me and you would kill him for it! That's still murder in my mind!"

"No, it's a loophole," he said. "It was his choice to kill the drunk and it was his choice to come at you. I was just following the rules."

Charlotte lay back down, clearly unsatisfied. He kept in his sitting position for a while and then, when he finally did lay down she said, "You lied about loving me, didn't you? In order to justify yourself to those people."

Of course she would bring that up, and he was ready. "About loving you? Yeah... thanks to Daniel for that idea. Worked like a charm."

He heard her let go a quick breath and after a while she sniffed. He rolled his eyes that she was crying and said, "Charlotte, you're safer by far now that I'm going to be leader. I'm sure Daniel would thank me for what I've just done."

"Don't you ever speak his name again," she ordered in a hush.

A lump tightened in his throat and try as he might to swallow it away, it stuck there for the longest time. He understood. There was nothing that made him more livid than when Miriam invoked her cousin's name to manipulate him. Some things were too sacred to be touched. Finally his guilt got the better of him and he found the courage to speak.

"I _did_ love her... and she loved me..." He waited for a moment and then said, "Charlotte?"

But she had started to breathe heavily and he knew, she was already asleep.


	13. If You're One of Us

Charlotte felt ill. Despite knowing he was proud, intelligent and miserable in his place among the people, she hadn't expected that Hadrian was capable of murder to solve his problems.

She'd seen death, murder even. And Charlotte had even had to kill a few people while defending herself or others. She had willingly worked along side people who killed as part of their jobs as well, but this felt different. He'd lived among these men and the killing she'd seen before was all between strangers. Did it really matter? Wasn't murder, murder? Why was she having a sudden case of conscience?

Sitting in their hut, not wanting to go out among the whispering voices outside, she closed her eyes and realized her problem. She couldn't trust him now. Not that he would kill her, his future self had indicated he'd only left her alone and she didn't even know if that meant to her death, but it was something else. Now she wondered if at any time he might kill someone else among them if they got in his way, or offended him.

She began to wonder about the other people who had disappeared and if Hadrian was responsible for any of them.

"Charlotte?" he called from outside. "Are you decent?"

And yet his manners could at times be so considerate.

"Yes," she murmured.

He came in, that dagger on his hip and his entire countenance transformed from the abused man he'd once been to exuding confidence. In fact he almost looked gleeful.

"You've got to see this," he said, holding out his hand.

So as not to offend him, she took it and he helped her up and led her out. In front of their hut he nodded with his head at the central hearth. She saw a group of people gathered around, smiling and happy. How odd.

When one of the men moved, she saw Miriam's stressed smile and beside her, eating heartily; her husband! Alive and looking well. It was impossible. She looked at Hadrian and he was standing with his hands on his hips, just as astonished.

"What happened?" she asked.

"The water," he said softly. "One of the women must have gathered water from a special stream. I spoke with her and I'm pretty sure it was the one Jacob used when we healed you." He shook his head and said, "I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen my mother fix you. But... there you go."

"You're actually happy about this?" she asked.

He looked at her genuinely hurt and said, "I didn't _want_ the old man to get hurt, it was just necessary for the plan to work. I hate him, but I don't blame him for what he is. And he never tried to actually kill me. The leader, on the other hand, he had no quarrel with the old man, he just wanted him dead to get to you." The leader's wife was coming out of her tent and looked up towards them. Hadrian gave her a wave and she nodded. "She even agrees with me that all of this was for the best. He was a _bad_ leader."

Charlotte wanted to reconsider her earlier judgment but couldn't shake her uneasy feeling of how it was done. "Why couldn't you just confront him and tell people what he was doing... upset the leadership without killing him?"

He turned to her and shifted his weight onto one foot. "It would have caused factions among us which would have led to more people dying. Believe me, this was much better than us slowly wiping ourselves out."

She looked down and said, "Maybe... "

"You'll get over it when you see how I run things." He gestured at the widow and said, "Sarah there... she's wise and is going to help me. I've already told people I intend to marry her after she's done mourning. Don't be surprised if you get approached by one or both of the brothers next door. I'm working on how to justify you being alone, but for now, just lay off the flirting. We may have to postpone digging until I can work it all out."

She nodded, uneasy and asked, "So no Miriam for you then?"

"I won't need her," he said with a shrug. "Sarah is old, but she's still a woman." He grinned and seemed to be searching Charlotte's face for a moment before he walked away. Again she had a sick feeling in her stomach.

...

Later that afternoon when she and the women were in the fields collecting grain, Sarah made her way over to Charlotte and worked beside her for a while before speaking.

"You and I need to form an alliance," she said.

Charlotte squinted up at her in the sun and asked, "How so?"

"Hadrian has a very strong will and a sharper mind by far than any of the men here. So, if he is hearing the same advice from both of us he will be much more likely to follow it than to go his own way."

"Are you asking me to help you manipulate him?" Charlotte asked.

Coming closer Charlotte saw that the widow was aged with uneven darkened skin and tight wrinkles but still slender and strong and with a wisdom in her eyes. She must have been very beautiful when younger.

"I'm asking you to help me save our people... you do see us as your people now, don't you?" When Charlotte didn't answer she said, "I think you do because I see how you care for others. You take time to teach the children and you contribute generously, not just for duty."

"Maybe I do," Charlotte said. "But Hadrian is my friend. I don't like the idea of going behind his back."

"You can't be friends with men, Charlotte. And besides, he knows what we women do," she said. "He doesn't trust us at all, not even you. But he has his needs and he trusts men less. And I'm not asking that we off set his goals, only that we guide him on how to meet them. We must help him to understand that our people stand a better chance of working together and leaving this island if we are strong and peaceful than if we allow our needs to go unmet and bicker among ourselves."

Surprised, Charlotte looked at her and said, "You want to leave too then?"

"This place..." Sarah looked around, haunted and finished with words that sent a chill down Charlotte's spine. "...is death." Sarah looked back at her and read her expression. "You've seen it too, haven't you?" she asked. Charlotte nodded. "Have you seen the evil darkness that slithers and clicks in the night as well?" Charlotte nodded again. "It took my father in the bright light of the sun. I was twenty six and we had just been stranded here and were searching for food. It left me alive to wander for a day looking for my people. Others saw it as well and we selected this side of the island because it was far away from it. But it still comes here... watching us... killing those who wander too far away at night."

"Did you speak with Hadrian about this?" Charlotte asked. Sara nodded. "I'm sorry about your father."

"I think it may have taken my sister as well, or the sea did," she said. "Claudia was pregnant too..." Sara turned on her and said, "That was forty years ago, Charlotte. Did you know that Hadrian is almost forty years old?"

Charlotte nodded and then her eyes went wide. "What are you saying?"

"When he came to us at thirteen speaking our language he would tell us nothing of his parents... only that he was one of us and had come over the sea. Our leader at the time was my brother in law and accepted him without questions because he looked like his dead wife... Claudia."

"Why are you telling me this?" Charlotte asked.

"Because you may know something about him that might help me discern if I should be concerned about his proposal to me."

"I've met his mother," she said, suddenly wanting very badly to help. "She looks nothing like him. Nor does his brother."

"He... has a brother?"

"Jacob," she said. The woman's face turned the color of ash. "He's more fair, unlike your people here."

"My brother in law was fair," she said. "And my sister was going to name her child Jacob!" Blinking with tears her slender fingers grabbed Charlotte's arm and she said, "Where is this man... where does he live?"

"On the other side of the island," Charlotte said. "And as I said, the woman looks nothing like Hadrian and he said she's crazy and dangerous."

"If Claudia has been living alone and has seen this great snake, living in fear of it, of course she'd be out of her mind with fear... and age may have changed her as it has me," she said. "Can you take me there?"

Charlotte shook her head, "I don't know where it is and I don't think he would like it."

Sarah let go of Charlotte's hand and stood up straight. "I don't care what Hadrian would like, I have to know. If I don't marry him, I need a good reason."

"Why don't you just talk to him about it?" Charlotte asked.

"Don't you understand anything about men?" Sarah asked. "If I so much as put the idea into his mind, even if it's not true, any attraction he has to me, whatever slim there may be for my age, will dissolve into disgust. If I am, however, his aunt... he can justify placing me in his house as an adviser. As an elder I will regain the honor I had as the leader's wife without having to marry him."

Charlotte didn't know if she could find her way back to his mother's and Jacob's cave, she had been so disoriented at the time. She certainly couldn't do it and have them back to their own village before night fall. Then she had a thought - the stream of 'magic' water that healed Miriam's husband was close by to where his mother lived, so it couldn't be that far from them.

"I'll see what I can do," Charlotte said. "How long do we have to figure this out?"

"I think I can delay his advances for a week of mourning, but after that he may need a reason."

"Then I'll figure it out before then," Charlotte said. The woman looked slightly relieved and Charlotte added, "I suppose we have ourselves an alliance."

It was the first warm smile she'd received from the woman and she welcomed it with her own. But then Sarah said something that put the warning back into Charlotte's heart.

"I know you have someone you're trying to return to, but I hope you will reconsider Hadrian. He is in love with you, Charlotte. And he will be much easier to persuade and lead if his needs are being met."

Sarah walked away without waiting for an answer and once more, Charlotte felt ill.


	14. The Talk With Mom

It'd been three days since the leader had died and still he was getting no arguments whenever he gave directions; even Miriam's husband was being more than cordial to him. In fact, he was being warmly accepted by both the men and the women. He took advantage of it to pull them each aside and discuss not just how they felt about camp life, but what their fears were and why.

After he'd finished questioning everyone, he had a count of only four people who had actually seen the smoke that had haunted their village since his people had arrived. Every encounter was different, but each had similar enough descriptions that he was beginning to develop a theory. Whatever it was wanted them to stay afraid and on this side of the island. With his spear and a bag of food, he stopped into Sara's tent where she was teaching Charlotte sewing techniques.

"Hey, ladies," he said. "I'm going to be gone overnight, I've put Miriam's husband in charge until I get back. Sound good?" He was really just telling them, but wanted them to feel like their opinion mattered to him.

"Very wise," Sara said. "He is still contrite and feels he owes you his life. He will be loyal and grateful for your trust."

"Yeah, that's what I figured," he said.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked him.

"To check out another site for a well, on the other side of the island."

"What about that thing..." she said, putting down the garment she was working on. It made him smile that she was so concerned and he waited for her to stand and come to him before he spoke.

Softly he said, "I'll be fine. I've wandered this island alone for thirty years. If it wanted me dead, it would have done it already."

"I think I should go with you," she said.

"The only time I saw it was when you were with me," he said.

"And it didn't hurt us. Besides, I can help with the experiments to test the site." She turned to Sara and said, "Don't you agree he should have someone go with him?"

The older woman looked up at her and then at him and said, "I would hate to lose either of you, but there is strength in numbers."

He'd thought this display was Charlotte accidentally showing she cared, but the way Sara had joined in, it felt like a trap. They were planning something, he could feel it. "No," he said, angry more that he was wrong about Charlotte than anything. "You two are not going to do this to me. I've made my decision, I'm not asking."

He walked out and said his goodbyes to the rest of the camp, reassuring the people he was not afraid of this monster because he had enough information to know how to avoid it now. They knew about his wandering from before and all seemed to trust him and even admire his bravery.

Little did they know his lack of fear of the thing was because of his suspicion. The freakish creature loved him, like a son. He could be wrong and he could be dead, but if his mother was behind it, he needed to find out and confront her. She wanted to see him anyway, and this was the perfect excuse.

The journey never seemed to take very long, half a day at most and when he got to the cave it was near dark. Jacob was there grinding grain in a stone bowl. His poor brother was always stuck doing women's work. When they were younger they had to beg their mother to let them hunt and he guessed now, Jacob just allowed her to do it. But how could such an old woman; a woman who should look older than she did, catch boar without even bringing a spear with her?

There was only one way it made sense.

"Jacob," he spoke. His brother jumped and then he smiled.

"Brother!" he said, placing the bowl aside. He got up and embraced him. He knew with Jacob it was sincere and it felt good to have someone care about him. "Do you want some fish?" he asked.

"Sure," he said and sat. "Where's mother?"

"I don't know," he said. "She told me to stay here. She said you might be coming." He looked up and smirked. "How did she know?"

It concerned him that he had left his people and he tried reassure himself that she wouldn't hurt them. If she hurt them, she would hurt him; did she want that?

"I don't know. How does she know half the things she does?" he asked. "But why isn't she here, I thought she wanted to talk to me."

"She does," Jacob said, handing him the leaf of fish he had prepared. He picked up a small wooden box and pinched a bit of salt, holding it up.

"Sure," he said and watched Jacob put it on his food.

"How's your girlfriend?" Jacob asked.

"She's fine," he said. "I'd rather not talk about her."

Jacob seemed disappointed but nodded. He looked at his dagger and asked, "Who gave you that?"

"I won it in a game," he said.

"What kind of game?" Jacob asked.

"A game to see who's the smartest. Winner takes all."

"Can I play?" Jacob asked.

He had to chuckle and said, "Maybe some day we'll play, but not today. So when will she be back?"

"I'm back now," she said coming into the cave. "I've brought you something."

He stood and finished chewing his fish as he watched her approach. She held out a large bag to him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's ash," she said. "Special, magic ash that will keep your loved one's safe."

He reached out and took the bag and looked inside to confirm what she said. It was gray and feathery and he closed it back up.

"So you know why I'm here?" he asked her.

She nodded and sat down across from Jacob with her strange smile.

He sat down next to his brother and said, "I was hoping more for answers."

"I don't give answers, you know that. Be grateful for what I am giving you. I didn't have to."

He couldn't help feeling that if Jacob was gone she would talk. His brother didn't even seem to mind not being told anything.

"You said you wanted me to come back so you could talk to me," he said. "Here I am, what is it?"

"You're not ready," she said, looking down and tilting her head as she poked the fire with a stick. "I thought you were when you wanted to help that woman, but now I know you're not."

"How do you know, what's changed?" he asked. She looked at the knife on his hip. "This?" he asked referencing it. She nodded.

"He won that in a game," Jacob said. "He's going to teach me some day."

"Go take a walk, Jacob," she said. Glaring at him she said, "NOW!"

With a heavy sigh, he stood up and glanced back at them. He looked up at his brother as if to say he was sorry, but Jacob's eyes were on their mother; such hurt there and she didn't even look at him. Why did he care what she thought? Why did he stay? It made no sense.

Once he was gone her tone became deadly. "You can't ever play that game with Jacob. Because if you do, and by some chance one of you loses, you will _both_ lose. Your lives are tied to one another. Do you understand?"

"No mother, I don't understand because you're not making any sense as usual," he said. Instead of explaining, she dropped it. "I'm just going to ask you once," he said. "And if you don't answer me honestly, I'm going to leave and I will never come back." He waited for that to sink in and then asked, "Are you that smoke?"

Her expression didn't change at all, she continued to stare at him with her empty eyes and then she spoke in a hollow tone that chilled him.

"I am not the smoke, but it is mine."

That made no sense either. He held up the ashes and said, "So why do I need this if you can control it?"

She poked the fire and said, "I can't control it. It is what it is. It may do what I want, but it does what it wants too. It helps me protect the island. It does what I can't do."

That was probably as much as he could hope for from her. "And this will keep us safe from it," he asked. "There isn't much here."

"It's for emergencies. Make a circle with it on the ground and stay inside. If the circle is broken, so is the spell. If you stay with your people on that side of the island you probably won't need it. What needs protecting is here, with me," She looked up and said, "I don't want your people corrupting Jacob."

"Oh, like they've corrupted me?" he asked.

"No. You're smarter than they are. You stand a chance against their evil ways. They would just hurt Jacob and he would..." She looked down and said, "Jacob has a temper. You control yours for a purpose. He doesn't think through things, he just _feels_. I'm afraid what he might do if anyone ever hurt him."

She was crazy, but she was right. "Thank you for this," he said, his hand on the bag of ash. "Can I stay here the night?"

With a smile she said, "I would like that... I miss you."

He didn't have to lie, despite his frustration with her, she was his mother and her affection still touched him. "I miss you too, mother."

They spoke a bit about Charlotte and he kept his feelings to himself when he described the people he lived. He tried to stick to their positive traits as much as he could so she wouldn't have a reason to 'rescue' him from them.

As they talked and the fire died he couldn't help wondering, what had happened to Jacob.


	15. The Talk with Jacob

Sara and Charlotte had had the same exact thought, and it might have been dangerous, but Charlotte wasn't afraid. Maybe death had done something to that instinct in her. She was glad when Sara decided to stay behind and help cover for her and Charlotte didn't doubt she could lie well.

Hadrian traveled quickly, but because she knew basically where he was going, Charlotte was able to follow at quite a distance without losing him. When her surroundings became familiar, she lagged even further behind and at dusk traveled slowly, waiting until she saw the fire in the cave before she crept in closer.

Sara told her to look at the clothing the woman wore and at the make of her things. Charlotte would know if it was of the same culture, but what she really wanted to do was to talk to either Hadrian's mother or Jacob. Hadrian said his mother was crazy and dangerous, but he thought that about _all _women and as Charlotte remembered it, his mother had seemed fairly reasonable to her.

When Jacob suddenly left camp and stormed nearly right by her she decided to follow him and look for an opportunity. He was carrying a torch and mumbling to himself and thankfully he went quite a distance from the cave before he sat down next to a tree and stuck his torch in the dirt. He then folded his arms across his knees and rested his chin on them.

Before she moved forward she tried to make out the things he was saying.

"He wants to protect his loved ones... I don't believe it. He abandons them... She never gives me anything... He gets everything...the game, the ash... the woman."

Her heart went out to him and Charlotte suddenly felt what she needed to know about Hadrian was less important than what Jacob was going through. When she took a step, her foot snapped a stick and he froze, wide eyed.

"Don't be afraid Jacob," she whispered. "I'm your brother's friend, Charlotte." When he didn't move she asked, "May I talk with you?"

"I'm not supposed to talk to others," he said. "But okay."

He almost sounded eager to disobey. She smiled as she came into the light to put him at ease. His eyes darted over her as she sat down in front of him.

"You seem upset," she said.

He glanced away and said, "He always gets whatever he wants."

"Who, your brother?" she asked. He nodded. "I've noticed that about him. Does it bother you?"

"What bothers me is that I don't ever get what _I_ want."

"What do you want?" she asked.

He fell silent as if he didn't know, or didn't want to say.

"Maybe that's the problem, Jacob. Maybe if you knew what you wanted you'd be motivated enough to do what you had to to get it."

He had seemed so simple before, but when he glanced up at her Charlotte saw deeper understanding in his eyes.

"May I ask you a question about your mother?" she asked. He nodded. "Does she ever talk about her people?"

"She doesn't have any."

"So she has always lived here on this island?" she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Who's your father if your mother has no people?"

"Father?" he asked.

Was it possible he didn't know? He was forty years old! "It takes two to make a child, Jacob. A man and a woman. A woman can't do it herself. You must have had a father... it's possible, that one of the men from the village was your father."

He looked away for a moment. His chest lifted as he took in a breath and his brows pressed together. After a few moments he said through clenched teeth, "I want you to go away."

"I'm sorry Jacob," she said. "I know it's difficult..."

"Go!" he said lunging towards her slightly.

Charlotte jumped at the sight of his fury and then backed away out of the light of the torch. She walked towards the cave to sit and wait at a distance. She sat there watching Hadrian and his mother speaking in the light of the dying fire. Based on her conversation with Jacob she wasn't completely convinced that Hadrian and his brother were Claudia's children, and what she saw of their mother's belongings was different than those back where she lived.

Suddenly she felt a hand over her mouth and an arm around her arms as she was lifted and carried off.

She struggled, kicking and tried to make noise so Hadrian would hear, but she was taken too quickly and too far away in the dark jungle to have hope that he could save her. Charlotte whimpered as the strong man had no trouble bringing her further and further away until they reached a beach where he put her down in the sand.

On her knees she cried, "Please, don't hurt me..." She looked up, only mildly surprised to see it was Jacob.

"Show me," he demanded.

"Show you what?" she asked.

"What you said, for a man and a woman to make a child. Show me how. Let's make one."

"No!" Charlotte said standing up and away from him.

"Why not?" he asked.

"I don't even know you!" she said.

"You have to know someone for it to work?" he asked in all seriousness.

"No, but... what are you saying, that you want a child?" she asked.

"Yes, I want a child of my own," he said. "More than anything."

Charlotte was amazed at how emotional he was about it.

He seemed truly upset and Charlotte had the feeling that for all his strength, he not only wouldn't force anything on her, but likely didn't even know how.

"Can we sit down and talk?" she asked. He nodded and they walked towards one of the dunes and sat looking out over the ocean.

"What do you know of children, Jacob?" she asked.

He grew quiet at first and then in a thoughtful sweet tone he said, "They're innocent. They aren't bad like adults."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I watch them in the village sometimes." His eyes shifted and Charlotte grew nervous, feeling he wasn't being truthful.

Remembering what Hadrian had said about the missing children she asked, "Have you ever seen any in the jungle?"

"Once I brought a boy home but Mother said he was dead. She didn't bring him back for me."

"Is that all?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I brought a not dead one to the cave. She made me very happy. I know you're not lying because of her," Jacob said. "She made a stick people game for us to play. One of her sticks was a mother and one was the baby. But there was also a father stick. In the village I don't see men watching children, just women. But I believe you. You didn't make up what a father is."

"What happened to her?" Charlotte asked.

"She started to cry a lot, so I wasn't allowed to keep her either."

Carefully, Charlotte asked, "What did you do to make her cry her Jacob?"

"I didn't make her cry," he said defensively. "She just wanted to go home. I would have taken her, but the next morning my mother said she left on her own. After that I wasn't allowed to bring any more children back to the cave."

Charlotte was beginning to understand why Hadrian thought his mother was crazy.

"And so now, you want a child of your own?" she asked.

He nodded and said, "If it was my own, if I helped to make her, mother might let me keep her."

"If that's what you want, you're going to have to meet a woman first... someone who would make a good mother to your child."

"Why not you?" he asked.

Jacob was so sincere, as innocent as a child himself; it was frightening. "Well, usually you make a child with someone who loves you."

"And you don't love me?" he asked, as if just making sure.

"As I said, I don't know you," she said. He wasn't hurt by it, just thoughtful. "Have you ever talked to anyone besides your mother or your brother?" she asked.

"You," he said. "And all the children I've met."

"Were there others?" she asked. "More than the two?"

"Yes," he said. "But I didn't keep any of them, I just took them to play with."

"Took them... like you just took me just now?" she asked. He nodded. Thoughts of Frankenstein came to her mind. "What did you do with them when you were done playing?"

"I let them go home."

"On their own?" she asked. Again he nodded. "Jacob...Children aren't just innocent, they're vulnerable. They can't take care of themselves or find their own way home." He seemed very confused, "They don't understand what danger is, they rely on adults to care for them. If you leave one alone in the jungle, it will be killed or get lost and die. When your mother said that the girl left and went home... that's not possible. No child could travel from these caves to our village alone."

His eyes darted about and she could see how it upset him.

"You didn't know," she said. "But your mother took good care of your brother and you and _she_ should have known. She should have told you." She let Jacob wrestled with that for a while and then said, "Just, don't ever take any others, okay?" His face was contorted with emotion but he nodded. And she thought Hadrian was naive when she met him!

After a long while, Jacob looked at her and said, "I won't ever find someone who loves me and wants to help me make a child. She's going to make sure of it."

"You could leave her," she said. He looked down like that was the most frightening thing he could imagine. "If you're not ready, you have time to wait until you are."

"My brother is lucky to have you," he said.

"About that," she said. "I wasn't supposed to follow him here. He might be angry with me if he finds out I came."

"Why did you come then?" he asked.

"Because..." she started to tell him the truth and then thought better of it. "I was worried that the smoke would get him. When you love someone you want them to be safe."

"Smoke?" he asked. "From the fire?"

Was it possible Jacob didn't know about that either? Charlotte tried to cover and said, "I know, it doesn't make sense. Sometimes when you love someone you do things that don't make sense." He didn't question her at all about it; it was as if he understood. "I'm glad I met you, Jacob."

"Me too," he said. "You don't seem so bad to me..." He smiled and said, "But you're not like a child. You know things. And you're not like my mother; you teach me." Then he offered without her even asking. "I won't tell them I met you, but I should get back soon or mother will ask me questions and I'm not good at lying."

"Can I walk back with you, so I don't get lost?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. He got up and held out his hand to her. She looked at it strangely and he said, "I should have known children needed me to protect them because they liked to hold my hand." She took it and he said, "Are you sure none of them made it home?"

"I don't know," was the best hope she could give him. It broke her heart that some day Jacob might fully realize what he'd done, but at least now he knew better. When they got close, someone else came out of the darkness with a torch.

"I found this where you left it, are you trying to burn the jungle down, Jacob? Mother is..." Hadrian started and then he saw her.

Jacob didn't look afraid of his brother at all and said, "She only followed you because she was worried about you. Don't be angry with her. You're lucky to have someone who loves you."

Charlotte couldn't tell if Hadrian was more frightened or angry. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine," she whispered. "I think we should keep my presence from your mother though."

Both of the brother's agreed and Hadrian sent Jacob back into the cave with his torch.

He pushed her shoulders down to sit her on the ground and she could hear the concern in his voice as he ran his hand over her hair. "You have no idea how much danger you're in here, Charlotte. What did you say to Jacob, what did you talk about?"

"You aren't going to like it," she said.

He moaned and then said, "Just... just tell me."

"I had to talk him out of wanting to have a child with me," she started.

Cautiously he asked, "Is that a nice way of saying what I think you're saying?"

"No! Literally he wants a child. He doesn't even know how, though." Hadrian nodded, his smile let her know he believed her. "He's so naive, dangerously so. He should not be living here with that crazy woman!"

"I know, I told you!" he said. "I've been telling him that for thirty years." He then pulled out a bag and reached into it. "This is going to sound crazy, but you must NOT leave this spot." He began to sprinkle whatever it was on the ground around her in a circle. "She's crazy, but she has her moments.. She gave me this to protect us from the smoke, didn't say how it works, but I can tell when she's lying so I think it will. If you stay in it, you're safe. In the morning we'll leave together. Don't break the ring, understood?"

Charlotte nodded and he sighed and leaned in, kissing her forehead. "So you lied to him about loving me?"

"Not exactly," she said. "I may have implied, but I didn't say it directly. He just jumped to that conclusion."

Hadrian closed up the bag and stood. "Well," he said. "My brother doesn't lie and he's not stupid. He beats me half the time at senet."

Before he walked away she said, "I bet I could beat you."

As he passed away into the distance she heard him whisper a call back to her, "You're on!"

Thankfully Charlotte was leaning on a tree and was mildly comfortable, but not enough to sleep. There was a time when she thought she heard the clicking noise, but wasn't sure if it was a woodpecker or a cicada. It was enough to keep her eyes open and her heart pounding, though.


	16. The Test

Neither of the two sites he took Charlotte to on the way home were very active enough, but they still agreed to put them on the map for some shallow digging. Sometimes the readings got stronger the lower they went. They were both pretty far from where the rope came out of the ground, but because of the location he could send men to dig on their own overnight without having to watch them.

He'd actually tried to get a few of his people to dig at what Charlotte called 'the orchid' but the statue was too much for them. They believed it was evil no matter what Charlotte said about the culture that had built it.

Even though superstition was going to keep them from the one place where she knew the wheel had worked, it was to Charlotte's credit that she was open to trying any other site. As much as he appreciated her support, he could tell as they made their way back, her resolve was fading. She simply wasn't enthusiastic about the wheel idea working to get her home anymore.

When he asked her why she bothered if she thought it had to be the Orchid site she said, "It's something to do."

They arrived home two days past when he had promised and were met on the hill to the village by two of the older men; there had been murder.

"There was a rumor that you were both dead," one of them said. "The younger brothers started fighting for position... They killed Miriam's husband when he tried to stop them and claimed they were each protecting their other brother. Nobody saw it, but we heard it and it sounded like he was trying to break up the fight."

"Is that so... how's Miriam taking it?" he asked sarcastically. Frustrated he walked past them towards the village.

Behind him he heard an answer he didn't expect. "We don't know, she was missing..."

He glanced at Charlotte and she looked more pale than usual. At the village he heard arguing from the hearth and saw the second grave next to where they had buried the leader was now filled.

The voices fell silent except for some whispering and he was glad for the weight of the dagger on his hip. He stood on higher ground, staring them down and telling everyone what they should be doing. After a good enough portion of the day hunting for Miriam, he called a counsel to discuss with everyone what he suspected had happened.

"Miriam put you two up to this," he asked plainly. "She probably promised to marry one of you and then last night she changed her mind suddenly, wanting my approval on it?"

Their expressions of shock and hesitant indignation made it obvious to everyone that he was right.

"Well, we have only fifteen men now," he said. "I can't justify executing either of you for killing the old man, let alone both. We need your strength. But when Miriam comes back, we'll hold a trial for _her_ because this isn't the first time she's undermined the peace." He glanced at Sara and everyone looked at the older woman. Her single nod gave him the support he needed to continue. "So, if the two of you pass the test of true repentance that I'm going to set up for you, you will then be indebted to the tribe to pay off your guilt with whatever work I tell you to do, wherever I tell you to do it."

"What kind of test?" one of them asked, nervously.

That night he had each of them stand alone in the center of an ash circle in the middle of a field high up on a hill. He made it far enough away from the village to be unseen, but where he knew the echos of the horror would be well heard into their valley.

Each circle he made tight enough for one man to stand upright in and told them if they broke the ring, they'd risk death. If they ran back to the village before the sun rose, they would be cowards and if they didn't die, anyone could kill them on sight. If they were alive in the morning, they were to be forgiven for all their sins and would merely have to prove themselves by digging in the shadow of the statue.

As soon as they realized the smoke snake was going to be part of the test, they were both ready to plead for death instead. So in front of the tribe, to prove his honor to everyone, he agreed to stay with them, watching with a torch so they could see his face through the whole ordeal. His mother had not let him down and put on a good show, either willingly for him, or that thing was just doing whatever it did. And the ash worked for all three of them.

The young brothers were so traumatized that they nearly worshiped at his feet for his ability to stand without flinching while the two of them cried like little girls at the sounds and sights of that night. Charlotte was the only one not impressed, but she kept any disapproval to herself.

...

Six months later and there was no sign of Miriam, but the wells at the new sites were dug and the brothers work on the Orchid was completed to the depth of where the rope ended. The men had worked off their guilt and had become good allies in all ways and even respected around camp for their courage to work next to the statue. Apparently stone that towered unmoving into the middle of the sky was not as frightening as animated smoke. It amazed him at how helping people to conquer their fear could motivate them and inspire such loyalty.

"You want company today?" Charlotte asked when he walked by her tent at the break of dawn. It'd been a while since she joined him on a dig, or since they'd talked alone about anything. He knew she was avoiding him and it had begun to get to him.

"I don't know, Charlotte," he said, "Are you asking because you're bored here with the women all day or does this have something to do with wanting to actually spend time with me for a change?"

"Why do you have to be that way?" she asked.

He glanced around and saw nobody else was up yet, but he still took a step closer and asked her softly what he had been dying to know. "What did you say to Sara when we got back?"

For some reason, three months ago the old widow had declined his proposal. It was fine, because after the people believed he'd tamed the smoke snake, there was no need to go through with the marriage to Sara solidify their belief in him; but he didn't like her reasoning. She wasn't too old, she was more vital than some of the weaker women. With Miriam gone and Sara preferring to remain a single widow, he was alone. Protecting Charlotte from advances when she treated him like this was getting tiresome.

She didn't answer. At least she wasn't insulting him by lying.

"Never mind," Charlotte said. "I've got wash to do anyway." She stood and went back into her tent. He waited to a count of five and then followed her. "Hey!" she said. "You can't just come barging in here, I don't care that you're leader."

"I asked you a question," he said, raising his brows. She wasn't impressed. "I'm not asking as leader," he clarified, "I'm asking you as my friend... we are still friends, aren't we Charlotte?" She relaxed slightly and nodded. "Did she turn me down because you asked her to?"

"No. I didn't ask her to," Charlotte said.

"Did you want her to?" he asked.

"I told you," she said flatly and looked down. "I'm in love with Daniel."

He stared at her, confused by her denials and spat out, "Well, just so you know, Jacob doesn't lie and if he says you admitted to loving me then either you're lying to me or you lied to him and there was some _other_ reason you risked your life to follow me. Either way, Charlotte, you're a liar so you can just come clean that you're over Daniel and move on with me or I'm going to have to stop being your friend because I can't trust you."

"Why don't you just put me on trial and call the smoke on me," she asked. "That seems to work on getting everyone else on your side."

He gave her credit for discretion in waiting until they were alone to bring it up.

"These people need a strong leader. I'm nothing to them unless I have a bloodline, or some unquestionable power. My options were limited."

He turned and left, storming out of camp. He thought she understood by now that he was only doing what he had to do. He could really use her as an ally, too. The smoke had bought him some time, but the people were growing tired of digging the wells with nothing to show for it. If they didn't hit something soon it was only a matter of time before factions would start dividing them.

If only Jacob would join him he would have one more person he could rely on without question!

The Orchid well was the deepest yet and the brothers were so efficient they had already dug out a large cavern under ground towards where the metal was being pulled. This morning he was going to set up some bracers to keep it from collapsing as they went deeper and he planned to start in on the far wall right away. After the hunt the brothers promised to help lug the dirt out later this afternoon.

Just as he put his hands on the ladder to climb down with his pick, he heard Jacob.

"Brother!" he called, his voice cracking. He looked up and saw him in tears. Not much could put fear into his heart, but the sight of his brother crying, chilled him.

He let go of the ladder and ran to him. "What is it?" Jacob was trembling and he put his hands on his arms to steady him. "Calm down... just... talk to me."

"She's dead," he sobbed, blinking.

The first thing that came to his mind was that their mother had somehow died, and he felt such a conflict of relief and sorrow that he was speechless, that is until Jacob continued.

"Mother killed her," he said. "She said she wasn't real, that I imagined her, but I saw it... she killed her!"

And the fear was back.


	17. Jacob's Visitor

"Was it a vision, Jacob?" he asked. "Like when we were kids?"

Jacob used to have visions and had twice claimed that something had actually happened to him. Their mother had dismissed him back then too; told him he was dreaming and that it didn't mean anything. He thought Jacob was crazy until he himself saw and talked to the ghost of their dead mother. But by the time he believed Jacob, his brother wasn't talking about his visions anymore, until now.

"No... it wasn't a vision," Jacob said defensively. "It was a _real_ woman. She killed a _real_ woman!"

He believed him; Jacob wasn't lying.

"Let's talk away from here," he said, leading Jacob towards the shore near the statue.

This was going to be messy if he wasn't careful about how he handled it. When Miriam didn't return he'd approached the two young brothers and promised them that, for their loyalty, he'd never put them on trial or test over her death, so long as he body was never found. They never admitted to or denied killing her, but the body never turned up. Everyone but him and Charlotte assumed she'd been taken by the smoke snake for her crimes and this was the first time he questioned it.

Jacob looked up at the statue, momentarily forgetting himself.

"Jacob... Jacob! When did this happen?" he asked.

"I don't know..." Jacob said. Then his eyes fell and he again grew distraught. "I woke up this morning in the cave with a headache... and then I started to remember..."

"Are we talking six months ago," he asked. "Yesterday? You must have some time frame."

"I don't know!" he said, rubbing his head. "Maybe this past week? I just know mother did it; not when."

It sounded like a vision to him, maybe of the past. "Do you know _why_?" he asked.

Jacob's eyes shifted, he turned slightly in place and then rubbed his palms in his eyes and moaned. "It was my fault," he said. "We were going to make a child and mother was mad. I _knew_ she would be... But she killed her!" He let go a sob and fell to his knees. "She was so... beautiful..."

"Oh... Jacob," he said feeling as much pity as disgust. Miriam might be beautiful to someone who didn't know her. He squatted beside him and asked, "Where... where did this happen? In the cave?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "In the pyramid by the sea."

"Show me," he said.

They went back to the well and he left all his things and wrote a note on the stone with a burnt stick. He hoped the young brothers would not be as stupid as they were last time he was gone.

Jacob traveled quickly without speaking and knew a very fast route, taking them only a little more than half the day. When they got to the cliff overlooking the water, there was nothing there but rubble.

"It was right here!" Jacob said. He ran over to the pile of black rocks. "I was in it yesterday! It had two levels."

There was obviously some sort of ruin and Jacob was genuinely baffled, so he didn't know what to think. Walking up to Jacob he asked, "And this is where you kept the woman? Did you have her tied up or something?"

"No!" he said. "She came to me here. She was told I would be here. How could she know that, _I_ didn't even know I'd be here!"

"Just to be clear, you did not take her from my village and bring her here and keep her until she would make a child with you?"

Jacob looked confused. "Charlotte said I had to find a woman who loved me to make a child. I get visions here a lot so I came to see if I would get a vision of where to look. And then, she appeared. She knew what I wanted and she wanted one too and asked me to help her."

In the moment it took him to close his eye and shake his head, Jacob had walked over over to the cliff.

He rushed him and grabbed Jacob's arm. "Careful!" he said his heart pounding. Jacob didn't even flinch.

"She threw her down there," he said pointing.

Looking down he saw waves breaking on the large boulders. "Maybe she landed in the water and swam away?"

Jacob looked hopeful and then glanced at the rubble. "Mother wouldn't let that happen."

"Are you sure it wasn't a vision?" he asked.

Annoyed, Jacob said, "Visions are _different_."

"So you do still have them?" he asked.

Cautiously Jacob said, "Sometimes..."

"I believe you, Jacob," he said. "Can you tell me about them?"

Jacob hesitated as if weighing the probability of being teased, but then he spoke.

"I still don't understand them," Jacob said. "But when they come, they're different than this was." He held up his hand and looked at it, "I touched her. I _felt_ her touching me..." Then Jacob closed his eyes momentarily and blushed. And then, his face contorted. Jacob opened his eyes, went over to the rubble, picked up a black rock and shouted as he threw it out over the cliff. "She killed her!" He took another one and another. Every one of them smashed against the boulders below and bounced into the sea.

Jacob's temper was not something he wanted to see get out of control and he tried to think of a way to calm him down, even if it meant lying to him.

"Maybe she just disappeared, Jacob. Maybe she's fine. If she was sent here to you, maybe she just went back to where she came from?"

That seemed to have done something, because Jacob stopped himself and looked at the rock he held.

"How can someone just appear and disappear?" Jacob asked.

"Maybe she was from the future. There's no way we can know. I think you should stay hopeful. She's gone, but maybe she's still alive somewhere else."

Softly Jacob said, "She _said_ she was from the future."

Dumbfounded he asked, "She said it?"

"She told me you would say I was crazy if I told you."

"She mentioned _me_?" he asked.

Jacob nodded and said, "She said, 'don't tell your brother.'" The two of them looked at each other and then, emotional again, Jacob said, "But who else can I talk to but you?"

He nodded, he felt that way too. Jacob was the only one he could trust on the entire island. He put his hand on his brother's shoulder and they sat. If this woman was from the future, and she knew Jacob had a brother, then she was probably from a time before Charlotte's. A time when he was still on the island. But if this woman used the wheel he was building, why would _he_ still be here? It was getting very uncomfortable to think about that kind of future.

"This woman came here from the future so she could have your child?"

"She said that in the future I wouldn't be able to have a child because Mother is going to change me. Why would she do that? She knows I want a child. I've told her _so_ many times."

"I don't know," he said. "And this woman was just going to leave with the child? Without letting you raise it? I thought raising the child is what you wanted, not just making it."

"She said... she said..." He blinked. "I don't remember what she said... but I know I agreed with her, but I don't remember what she said!"

"You always remember what people say, Jacob."

"I know, but I can't..." He put his hands on his head and shook it then Jacob's fists gripped his hair in frustration. "What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you... It's just..." He wanted to tell him what he suspected, that if Jacob was in control of the island and had power that maybe this woman used the wheel to come back and manipulate him. That's the kind of thing Miriam would do. If he told Jacob the possibility, like his mother said, it would hurt Jacob. Sadly he had to lie again.

"I think this was some kind of vision... a different one, like the others you had when we were kids, where you thought you went somewhere else? Remember?"

Jacob nodded slightly and then he said, "What if _that_ was time traveling too?"

"There's no such thing as time traveling, Jacob," he said. "Time is a constant. I would know, wouldn't I? I mean, I'm smarter about those things than you."

Jacob turned his eyes on him in a glare, but he didn't deny it.

"It's going to be dark before I get home as it is, so I should leave to get back," he said. He stood up and looking down on Jacob he said, "You are always welcome to live with us, Jacob. I'm leader now and I have power. I can make you powerful too."

"I don't want _power_," Jacob said.

"Everyone wants power," he said. "That's how you get what you want."

"I want a child."

It would have been sweet if it wasn't so pathetic. "If that's true," he said and then made an impossible promise. "If you want a wife and a child, come to the village. I can get that for you."

"I don't want another woman, I told this one it was forever... I meant it."

"There is _no_ forever in love, Jacob," he said. "People remarry all the time. And in this case there isn't even any _her_." Jacob's glare went darker and he clenched his teeth. Before the fuse lit, he said, "How about this, when I have a child, you'll be his uncle... It's what they call your father's brother. It's not the same as being a father, but you'll be related to him, so he'll be _yours_ too. You can help me raise him."

"You're going to be a father?" Jacob asked. He sat up without a shred of jealousy. His brother's selflessness made lying to him so uncomfortable.

"I'm working on it," he said.

With a sad smile, Jacob said, "I'd like to help you take care of him."

It suddenly occurred to him that this could be a good way to get Jacob to leave their mother! "Good, I'll work on it even harder," he said. "Come on... I'll walk you home."

"No," Jacob said calmly. "I need to think and I like it here best."

"What if you get upset again..." He looked over the edge and asked, "I don't want you doing anything crazy."

"I won't," Jacob said.

He started to walk away and then an idea crossed his mind. "Hey, Jacob. Stop by the village sometime, we'll play senet..."

Jacob didn't respond at first, seeming to be in another world, and then finally he said, "Maybe."

He really hoped he would.


	18. A Visitor of His Own

Charlotte was spending as much time alone as she could. Despite what she had done lying to Hadrian and risking her life, Sara had turned on her. When Charlotte refused to take her place as his wife, the older woman claimed such selfishness was hurting their people. All the women backed her up and it made any community activities a cold, lonely place.

She did agree that Hadrian's power trip was growing out of control. His stunt with the smoke snake when they returned from his mother had terrified everyone. Even she'd been awake all night listening to those men scream. And he was too moody to talk to about the way he gave orders without explaining them. She understood what he was doing most of the time but he even snapped at her when they were alone. Still, he showed his favor by not allowing any other man to talk to her that way.

And now it was late and he wasn't back yet. He hadn't told anyone where he was going she couldn't figure it out so it made her nervous. The rumors had not stopped since dinner and some asked her if he'd built the wheel near the statue and had left the island without them. She reassured them that they hadn't dug far enough into the chamber yet.

Despite how rude he'd been, she should have gone after him this morning and tried to talk to him. Outside her hut she heard the whisper of the brothers asking each other if they thought she was in here or if she had gone off with _him_ again. At his request, they used no name for him, calling him 'leader' or 'sir'.

"She's the only one he'd tell, you see if she's in there..."

"I'm here," she said. "And I don't know where he is anymore than you do."

Without asking the older one came in.

She sat up and said, "You aren't invited in."

He seemed nervous and said, "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"I'm fine, now go."

He sat down. Maybe this was it. She would defend herself as best she could, but he was bigger than Hadrian, so Charlotte braced herself.

"Do you... do you think he's right about the wheel and leaving the island?" he asked.

"Yes, absolutely," she said.

"Then why haven't we found anything yet?" he asked. "We dug deeper than any other well and there's nothing down there but dirt."

"It's there," she said. "You saw the experiments... if you want, tomorrow we'll run more."

"You could be tricking us," he said.

"But why?" she asked. "Why would we have people digging unless we believed; he digs more than anyone."

"Because he's crazy?" he asked. He looked her over and said, "He's not made you his wife; that's crazy. He isn't afraid of the smoke snake, and that's definitely crazy."

It would be hard to argue with that last one and she said, "Why don't you talk to Hadrian about it when he gets back?"

"Because he'll kill me if I show doubt."

"He won't kill you."

"He's very powerful... _we_ think he killed Miriam," he said.

Charlotte grew cautious. She and Hadrian were both convinced that Miriam had died at the hands of one of the brothers.

"I was with him that night," she said.

"He could have had the smoke do it," he said. "Without a trial... we don't think people wouldn't like that, but we aren't going to say anything. I'm just telling you why I'm afraid to talk to him."

When Charlotte became nervous over that possibility, he smiled strangely and looked her over again. "I'm tired of digging, Charlotte. And I'm tired of being alone. I'm asking for you to choose me over my brother. I'm the nice one."

"I choose no one," she said. "As always."

"If you don't choose me, my brother will claim you. I won't take you... I want you willing. I'm just warning you. Pick me. It'll be more pleasant."

"Hadrian will..."

"Hadrian is growing tired of being alone too," he interrupted as he got up, "And Sara's granddaughter turns sixteen in two years. She's promised to me..." His expression made her cringe as he said, "She likes him and we agreed, I can trade her for you. I like you better because you work harder and make better things than she does." When Charlotte didn't answer he said, "That's a compliment."

"What do you want me to make you?" she asked. "I don't have to be your woman to make it." He smiled a dark grin and she realized his compliments were just flattery. "Get out!" she ordered him.

Once he left, Charlotte realized the growing danger she was in. What Hadrian had said to her in 1954 was going to come true. She wasn't going to get back to Daniel, she was going to die here, possibly having horrible things happen to her first. And the women would support it.

Just as she was wishing they would ban together and fight this tyranny, it struck her. They were. They were using the only power they had over the men, and she wasn't playing along because of her own cultural bias that put her above such things.

Crying felt pointless to Charlotte, but she let a few drops fall from her eyes as she sat, wrapping her arms around herself, deciding what she should do. Maybe Hadrian was right. Maybe he was doing the best anyone could with such people? Charlotte had studied these types of cultures her entire life and while she thought she understood, living it was hell.

Yet, he was a good friend. She wasn't forced to live in one of the larger stone homes with anyone, he had given her his old hut. And she was well fed and treated with respect - all because of _him_. What he was doing for her was impossibly rare in this era. It didn't feel like much of a choice, but Charlotte knew what she had to do if she wanted to get back home, or even just survive; anything she could so he wouldn't leave her with whoever this 'him' was going to be that he was sorry about.

She waited by her hut opening, peering out. The brothers were sitting outside across the way from her, whispering. She wished she could hear them, but the singing at the other end was too loud. After most had gone to bed, Hadrian finally returned. She slipped out and followed him as he passed.

"Hadrian," she whispered.

"Charlotte, I'm seriously tired, and now is not a good time... I've had a really, _really_ long day."

She followed him to the large home he'd taken from Sara and stopped just before he went in. He turned and looked at her. He did look exhausted, but more, heavily annoyed. Without saying a word, she put her arms around him and held on. The time for seduction would come later, for this moment, Charlotte had sincere thanks to give. Tentatively he embraced her back and when he did she couldn't help but let go a tiny cry.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "You've been so good to me, and I've taken it for granted."

She felt his hand on her back lightly grip her dress as if he needed to hear it. It drew affection up in her that she didn't know was there, but he would need to hear more than that for this to work. "I didn't lie to Jacob..." she said. "I lied to you."

He let out a breath and with his low, gravely voice he asked, "Do you want to talk inside, there's an audience gathering out here."

She nodded and let go, glancing down at the brothers who were smiling oddly.

Once inside he asked her to sit as he lit a candle. "What's going on?" he asked, sitting on his bed mat across from her. "Did something happen?"

"No... I just realized, I've been fighting these feelings I have for you because I was scared. When I get back, Daniel is going to be hurt when he finds out... but I think... he would want me to be happy."

Hadrian surprised her, he didn't act proud or superior over it, he didn't even act like he expected this. He just took it in as if thinking it over. But Charlotte needed him to believe her, she needed the people here to believe her. She couldn't continue living like this one more day. She got up and sat beside him.

"Do you know what I'm saying?" she asked. She couldn't bring herself to out right say she loved him so she hoped he'd just assume that's what she meant, like Jacob did. When all Hadrian did was stare at her cautiously she said, "I want to stay with you tonight. I know you're tired, but..." She looked at his lips, hinting. "Don't you have a _little_ bit of energy left?"

"We should give this some time, Charlotte," he said gently. "Make sure it's what you want... I don't want you resenting me."

She gave him her knowing smile that had worked wonders in her past and said, "It took me months to admit how I feel, Hadrian. I don't want to wait anymore." Before he could say another word to discourage her, she kissed him. He resisted at first, but she knew men and kissed him again, this time with her fingers starting gently at his knee, she crept ever higher on his thigh.

It took only a few moments of her ignoring his signals of hesitation before he began responding, slowly at first and then with obvious intent. He did want this, and badly. Since Charlotte's purpose required her to be indiscreet, she made sure to do what she could so that before long anyone still awake could hear what was going on with him. By the way he was so anxious to reciprocate she doubted he minded if they had a listening audience.


	19. Eureka!

There was something in the air, he could feel it. Something fresh and new, something was going to happen today. The people were tired of digging and were getting very vocal about it. The experiments meant nothing to them anymore. To keep the people happy he had thought to stop all digging everywhere but the brothers at the orchid, but even though Charlotte insisted the wheel was there, he needed to keep all options open. Even if it meant getting up at dawn like this and doing the work himself.

"You going to tell me what you're thinking or you want me to guess?" she asked as she lagged behind him.

"Just thinking I'm glad you're coming with me today," he said, glancing back at Charlotte. They were on their way to the well closest to the village. It wasn't as deep as some of the others, but the experiments she had conducted had been very promising.

"I think we're going to find something today," he said to her after a while.

She didn't respond with anything but a nod. She'd lost all hope it seemed, but was at least still with him on trying. He couldn't let her attitude bother him. He needed her support even if it was only in action and not attitude.

When they arrived at the site, the first thing Charlotte did was wince and sit down.

"You okay?" he asked, setting his pack down and watching her carefully.

"Just, not feeling well," she said.

He was concerned, but mostly because he could really use her help digging today. She'd complained of an upset stomach every morning this week and it was getting old.

"Maybe you should eat less fruit at night," he said.

"I didn't have anything to eat last night, Hadrian. Leave me alone..."

He sighed and peered into the well. "I'll go light the torches. You have some bread." He tossed his small pack of food at her and she caught.

She opened it, but didn't even thank him. How typical.

Climbing down into the dark hole, he felt it again. This was it. Today was the day.

It took him no time to set up and when he looked over at the wall of dirt, his heart fluttered. It wasn't the protocol they had developed for safety, but he didn't care. The pick felt electric in his hand and he gripped it with excitement.

Swinging it hard, he sunk it deep into the dirt at about head level and yanked out a large load that fell to the ground at his feet. With another swing he dug next to it. And again and again until he was standing on the dirt, completely out of line with the methods they had established.

But it felt right. And he continued until... was it his eyes? He blinked. No. There was something. Climbing up on top of the dirt, risking a collapse, he used his hands, digging at the place he thought he saw a glow. He could barely reach it and pushed himself deeper into the hole. His fingers clawed and frustrated he reached down and pulled out his dagger.

Holding it as tightly as he could he still felt the pull of it into the hole as he jabbed it through.

Like a flash of blinding sun, the tiny crevice lit up everything. At first he was stunned and then a joy lit up in his heart like nothing he'd ever felt. He began to laugh and tremble and then pushing himself out of the hole he fell onto the dirt floor and looked up, rubbing his eyes and then shouted a vague but triumphant scream.

Getting up he circled around, hollering and let the tears come realizing; nobody would ever question him again.

"You alright?" he heard her call down with genuine concern. She was climbing into the well by the time he got to it and looked up. "Are you hurt?" she asked, rushing down the ladder. At least she cared!

"Charlotte!" he called, wanting to tell her but being too excited for her to see. When she reached the bottom her eyes searched him and he grabbed her arms. "We found it!"

Her concern melted to astonishment and he pulled her over to where the small opening he had made was casting it's glow through the deep crevice he had sloppily carved out of the dirt.

She gasped and went to it. "You did it," she said, breathless. "You actually did it." She turned to him and he grabbed her around the waist with his arms and squeezed as he turned her around.

"We did it!" he said. "We can _leave_."

She was laughing too and kissed his cheek when he set her down. But then her smile faded and she swallowed.

"I need to check something..." she said seriously.

He nodded, curious and she looked back into the light, fumbling through her pouch on her hip. She took out a bag that contained tiny pellets of metal. Removing one, she looked at him and he nodded.

Walking up in front of the glow, she held her hand up in front of the hole and let go. Instantly the piece in her fingers shot straight forward into the light and a hum filled the cavern for a moment until it went silent again.

"I... I have to get out of here," she said suddenly and ran for the ladder.

"What? Why?" he asked, annoyed. "We found it, we have to get this dirt out of here and expose it!"

"No!" she said, on her way up. "Do _not_ expose it... you have to cover it up."

This was not what he needed, more crazy hysteria. He could deal with it about how he kept their home or any of the other mundane things that were setting her off lately; but he needed her focused on this. Following her up the ladder he decided to hear her out as calmly as he could; it always helped her not break down if he remained calm. As he was climbing out he saw her run to the trees and vomit.

So she really was sick. Fantastic. He slowly walked to her and she stood, wiping her mouth and shaking her head.

"I can't go down there again," she said.

"Why not?" he asked impatiently.

"And you have to cover it up with the lead rocks we've been collecting as soon as possible or before long you'll be in danger too."

"What do you mean, too?" he asked.

Her hand went to her stomach and her eyes darkened. "Electromagnetism isn't healthy, especially for the development of the very young." He looked at her hand just as she said it, "I think I'm pregnant... So I can't help you build the wheel down there."

There was no joy in her voice when she said it and he knew what that meant. He clenched his teeth and put his hands on his hips.

There was no way they could build the mechanism and bring it down into the well, and if she couldn't go down there for eight or nine months, the set back was going to be excruciating.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I tried to tell you we should be careful."

"We _were_ careful, Charlotte," he said. "You think I want this?" He gestured at her, annoyed. He shook his head and walked away.

"I said I'm sorry," she shouted at him, angrily.

He went over to the buckets and began tossing them down the hole. First he had to get the dirt on the floor out so they could fit lead rocks in there to build a wall. He could have the brother's help him here now instead of at the orchid site and that would make it go more quickly. Now that they found something people would want to help. But if Charlotte was right, he had to keep people from being hurt by it or they would become afraid and he'd have a whole other set of problems.

He turned around to grab his pack and startled to see her standing right there.

"Maybe I should ask one of the women if there's something I can take to get rid of it... or go down there until the light destroys it... would you prefer that?"

She wasn't serious, she was hurt, he could hear it. But so was he; she didn't love him, and it had never been more obvious to him than now.

"Do what you want, Charlotte," he said. "I honestly don't care."

He didn't expect her to hit him, but he caught her by the wrist before her fist hit him. He held her by the arm tightly and stared into her distraught face.

"I'm sorry," he spat. He meant it, though. "What do you want me to say?" As she started to break down, he let his grip loosen until she crumbled into his arms. "If things were different," he said, trying not to choke up, but he couldn't finish so he left it at that.

"Even if I can go back," she said. "It's never going to be the same."

"Sir," came a voice behind them.

He let Charlotte go and as she turned away and wiped her eyes, he saw a few of the men from the village had joined them.

"I thought you were going fishing today," he said.

"We thought we'd help you," one said, looking at Charlotte as if he didn't expect her to be here. The man behind him glanced sideways at another and he knew, they hadn't come to help. He'd been waiting for this day when an 'accident' would happen to him.

"Well," he said. "Why don't you three go down in the well and see what I found."

"You found something?" the man asked suspiciously. "What?"

"A light, brighter than fire... bright as the sun... a power source that attracts metal. Go on, if you don't believe me."

"You go first," the man said taking a step towards him with his shovel gripped in both hands.

Charlotte came and stood by his side. "Don't do it, Hadrian, they plan to kill you."

He didn't flinch or move, just stared at the bigger man. He wouldn't have said it out loud, but was glad for her boldness to clear the air.

The man laughed lightly and said, "Your woman has a big mouth."

"It's a shame you risk loosing all of the work we've done for a lack of patience," she said. She called the name of one of the men behind him with whom she had a decent report and said, "Go on down, we'll all stay up here while you see if we're being honest."

"I think I should," he said.

She pulled out the pellet bag and tossed it to him. Having Charlotte by his side in this capacity was worth more to him than a sincere lover who shrank from danger. He quickly glanced at her and nodded his thanks.

It took the man only a few moments before he started screaming and calling the other men.

"It's true! There's a light!"

He felt the excitement again as the expressions of shock overwhelmed the faces of the mutineers. Charlotte smirked too and squeezed his arm.

One of the men ran back to the village and everyone was there by mid day to see the light and help remove the dirt he'd piled up. At one point he felt a strange presence behind him and looked to see Jacob standing there watching them. Any other day and he would have invited him to stay, but he told him to come back in a few days and they would play senet, just like he promised. His brother agreed and now he had to decide if he was going to tell him or not.

With everyone helping, half the stones were moved into the well by dinner and most of the dirt up to the light. The biggest set back was when water started to pour out of one section of the hole near the light. The three men who had come there tired of digging had actually volunteered to work on channeling and collecting it and to his amazement, had a system built before nightfall. Now at least they wouldn't be stuck in the mud with a risk of the hole collapsing in the morning.

At the hearth there was more singing and laughter than ever and everyone agreed to use up any of the wine they had in storage.

"You aren't drinking," he said to Charlotte as he sat beside her with two cups of wine. "We're almost out, so if you want some before the next season..."

"It's not good for the baby," she said.

He didn't know how to respond and just poured one of the cups into the other. The brothers were both dancing with the young fourteen year old and she was laughing and pushing them away from her one minute but flirting and drawing them closer the next. They really couldn't wait for her to grow up and her father stood close by with his eye on the scene.

Hadrian hoped they would all be off the island and find more people before she had to decide between them. He'd hate to see anything come between such close brothers.

"I'm sorry I'm not happy about it," she said.

"It's alright," he said, staring into the fire. "Me too... sorry for the poor kid more than anything... with parents like us."

She chuckled and then her mouth twitched as she tried not to get emotional.

"I should never have given in to you in the first place," he whispered, thinking about when they'd first crossed that line. He knew it wasn't right, she wasn't really ready, but it was too difficult to go back and after a while. They had fallen into an understanding that had made things easier for Charlotte with the women and for him with the men. But as much as they both enjoyed each other at night, the tension between them during the day was almost not worth it. "I knew you'd end up hating me more than you already did."

"I don't hate you, Hadrian," she said. "I hate myself. And for the record, you didn't stand a chance."

"Oh no?" he asked. "I'm stronger than you think. Look how long I resisted Miriam."

That got a good laugh out of her and he decided to leave it at that and started to stand, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. Leaning on his shoulder, she closed her eyes and he drank the rest of his wine and watched the younger people make fools out of themselves in their celebration.

Even the men who this very morning were intent on killing him and taking over, were drunk and laughing as if the accomplishment was just as much theirs as his. He couldn't fault them too much, it had been nearly two years they were digging without any reward for the effort.

And then a feeling came over him that caught him off guard. It lingered for a few moments until his fear of it chased all traces away. How disconcerting to have finally achieved the first step to his life long goal of leaving this miserable place, only to be haunted with a hint of what he guessed was happiness right here. He'd sworn he could never be happy here, and yet...

They were a greedy lot of selfish, untrustworthy people, but they were _his_ people and despite his low opinion of them, he felt affection for them.

It was probably just the wine.


	20. The Good Uncle

From what Hadrian was telling her, the work was getting done at a phenomenal speed. It hadn't occurred to Charlotte that these people who could bicker all day long over menial tasks could turn around and work together once they were properly motivated. They actually believed it was possible to leave the island. Charlotte believed it too, but what she wanted was not just to leave, but to go home. If they turned the wheel, would it know where to send her; where she belonged?

With the wall up and the wheel half built it was likely only a matter of days before they would install it. Several of the men seemed to actually understand what she was talking about and Hadrian claimed he could see the entire structure in his mind already. Really it was just figuring out how to do it safely; and Hadrian said he was willing to risk sickness if that's what it took.

As for Charlotte, her morning sickness was gone.

It should have been a good thing and it certainly made the work she did for those who _were_ able to go into the well easier; but a fear lingered in her. What if something had happened to the baby? What if just that little exposure to the light had done something? And what if it was her fault for wishing it gone? The guilt ate at her.

Even if it was just motherly instinct making her care naturally, there was no denying she wanted this baby after all. Not because of who the father was, but just because, it was a life in her.

Coming into their large roundhouse after her morning chores she saw, he'd left his things on the floor again. A muddy, filthy shirt and pants that thankfully didn't stink but were thrown on the bed making those linens need washing now too. For some reason, Charlotte didn't care. She picked them up and put them with the bedding to take down to the river. It wasn't in any way a romantic relationship and most of the time she wanted to thunk him in the head for his depressing sarcasm, but he'd become more bearable since they found the light. Not quite up beat, but he smiled more and not just at her. At everyone.

Walking towards the river with the laundry she saw Sara was coming up the path. Nobody was afraid to walk alone since Hadrian had tamed the smoke monster, though traveling in the dark was still off limits. The freedom of coming and going had lifted everyone's spirits and ended much of the bickering.

"You should have told me you were going," Sara said. "I would have waited... you have such a large load, would you like help?"

Charlotte hadn't told her she was pregnant, but the older woman had figured it out, having witnessed enough pregnancies herself, no doubt.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said. "If you want to come down with lunch there's a basket inside my door that someone left us. It was too much to carry."

Sara nodded. As a widow she was relying on hand outs more than ever and Charlotte did what she could to share whatever anyone gave to her and Hadrian. He rarely hunted as it was, but since they found the light, he'd done nothing else but work on the wheel.

At the river she sat and began her wash, only to see someone hide behind a tree across the water.

"I saw you, Jacob," she said. He peered out and she waved him over. "Someone's coming in a bit, but have a seat."

He took a look around and then came out and over to her, a strange expression on his face.

"You know your brother really wants to see you," she said.

"I just saw him," he said, sitting down on a rock in the river. "We played senet."

That must have been why Hadrian had rushed with his clothes. He was desperate not to leave his brother behind and had plans to talk him into coming. From the look on Jacob's face, that conversation didn't go so well.

"Did he beat you again?" she asked.

Jacob shook his head and said as he watched her work, "We didn't finish."

"Well, I'm sure you would have beaten him if you did." That didn't cheer him up either. "You know, I beat him three times?"

"You did?" he asked as he sat on a rock. "He told me I was the only one who could beat him."

"Well," she said as she squeezed the black shirt, "He and I have played over a hundred times so three is not much of a victory..."

Jacob had a stick and started stirring the water with it where it was pooling. "I just wish he didn't lie," he said. "He didn't even have to. I don't care if you can beat him too."

"Maybe he didn't lie... Between you and me, I think all three times he let me win."

"Why would he do that?" he asked.

"Ulterior motives... he wanted me in a good mood."

Jacob seemed saddened more by that. "My brother seems to use people," he said. "I thought it was different with you."

"It is," she reassured him. "What he wanted me in a good mood for, was pleasant for us both. Don't worry."

To her surprise, a tiny knowing smile crossed his lips and he looked back down.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't you?" she asked. He nodded. "How?"

"I met a woman," he said, then his forehead wrinkled.

That was concerning, but not impossible since the women were wandering around on their own more now. "Does she have a name?"

"None that she mentioned," he said. "Did it work?" he asked.

"Did what worked?" Charlotte asked.

"Did you make a baby?" he asked.

As soon as she realized Hadrian hadn't told his brother she figured, he likely wasn't going to. Charlotte felt it might be a problem between them if she did, but now that she could finally say it with some measure of happiness, she honestly could think of no one better to tell.

"Yes," Charlotte said with a smile.

Jacob looked at her and for the first time ever she thought she could see some of Hadrian in his eyes; it was the same expression when he told her about finding the light.

"I'm going to be an _uncle_?"

Remembering her concerns she said, "I think so... it's hard to be sure."

He came over to her, nearly losing his balance. And then his expression quickly turned to worry. "Are you going to take the baby with you when you leave?"

"So he told you that?" she asked. Jacob nodded. He looked at her stomach and she asked him, "You aren't coming?" He shook his head.

"Can I touch?" he asked, anxious. "He said that I'm the uncle, so it's mine too."

"He... told you? I thought you said..."

"He told me he was going to try, but he didn't think you were ready."

"Oh," she said. That was very interesting, Charlotte thought, and infuriating, especially based on his reaction. She didn't realize his apology was because it was legitimately his fault.

"May I?" Jacob asked. He was so sweet but it made her slightly uncomfortable.

"It's too small to feel anything, Jacob," she said.

"Please?" he said, still staring at her stomach.

It was harder to resist him than his brother. "Alright... but you won't feel anything."

She put down the black shirt and he quickly came closer, stretching out his fingers wide and laying it on her abdominal as if he know exactly where it would be. He closed his eyes and after a few moments, he smiled and then whispered something under his breath.

"It's going to be a boy," he said and then he opened his eyes and stepped back.

"How could you know that?" she asked.

"A vision," he said.

"What did you say, I couldn't hear you?"

"I blessed him," he said. "I want him to grow up good and not be like the bad people."

"Thank you, Jacob," she said.

His expression suddenly became emotional and he turned and crossed the river.

"Jacob?" she called. "What's wrong?"

He looked over his shoulder at her, distraught and she knew.

"You don't want us to go, do you?" she asked.

He shook his head and said, "I would have made a good uncle."

As he ran off, Charlotte couldn't help thinking that Jacob was going straight to his mother. She left the wash on the rocks in the river and ran to find Hadrian.


	21. Letting Go

What was _he_ supposed to do about it? The younger of the two brother's had convinced the girl to break her father's promise to marry the older one and now the brothers were fighting.

"We need a mediator," her father said following him around camp. "You are the leader, you must hear our conflict!"

He'd just wasted hours of daylight playing sennet with Jacob who, in the end, refused to leave anyway and now his work clothes were missing. Why did Charlotte always have to touch his things?

"I need the sunlight to make progress on the wheel," he told them. "We can talk about this when the sun goes down." He looked in Sara's hut; neither Charlotte nor the older woman were there.

"A real leader would understand his people are more important than progress."

He stopped in his tracks and turned and faced the father. The people seemed to take notice that he was engaging the complaints and watched as the brothers approached him.

"You owe me a fair decision," the older brother claimed. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have a woman."

It struck him as strange, but the murmuring hush that fell over the gathering got his attention.

"Charlotte and I have our own agreement," he said. "It has nothing to do with you or this argument."

"That's not true. She went to you right after I told her you were tired of being alone and I was going to give you the young girl." He remembered entertaining that offer but the fourteen year old was far below his serious consideration.

The older brother went on. "It was obvious to everyone that Charlotte was losing her influence over you, and I told her if you had another woman, she'd have none at all."

He pointed at his younger brother and said, "I told her my brother would force her and you wouldn't do anything if you had someone else... and just as I predicted, last night he took my girl. Same plans he had for Charlotte. I'm being honorable by not killing him and just demanding justice."

"So you've been with this girl already?" he asked the younger brother.

He nodded and the girl by his side wouldn't meet his eyes, but she held on to the younger brother, not as if it had been forced. He didn't want to reward the younger brother for seducing her but forcing her to go with the older brother could be worse. It wasn't his decision.

To the father he said, "Who did you make the agreement with the sons, or their father?"

"Their father, before he died," he said.

"Death nullifies the contract. You decide which one. I'd pick neither if I were you," he said.

"You can't leave it like that," the older brother said. "He took what's mine, I have a right to fight him to the death!"

The younger brother put the girl behind him and acted ready for a fight.

He held up his hands between the two of them and said, "If either of you have a problem with the father's decision, you take it up with me. Understood?" The brothers looked at each other with such hate that it got to him.

"Hey," he said, softer. "You're brothers. Don't let anything come between you. It'd be better for neither of you to win than to lose a brother... right?"

He was assessing their hesitant reaction when Charlotte's voice rang through the air.

"Hadrian!" She had no consideration to look around at what was going on.

"Not now," he snapped at her.

"I need to talk to you," she demanded.

"I'm in the middle of something, can't you see that?"

She didn't seem to care at all how she made him look. She walked up to him and got in his face. "It's important," she said and she started to go on about how if he ever trusted her he should listen.

But he had trusted her. He'd believed her when she said she came to him because she appreciated him. He would have been fine if being with him was her last resort, or if she admitted to doing it begrudgingly. At least then he could have saved face and refused her. But he trusted that she cared about him, and really, all she wanted was a way to manipulate him. All the women must have known it from the start, and now all the men did.

"So let's go," she demanded. "Hadrian?"

With the way his leadership was hanging by a thread he did the only thing he could do to hold on to it. The back of his hand smacked her face hard enough for her whole head to turn and she stumbled a step.

"When I'm done," he said with a tremor in his voice.

He'd expected Charlotte might hit him back or run off, but she stood down holding back her words. Her eyes were full of hurt more than hate or fear and he looked away quickly when he saw her lick the blood drop on her lip. How had they come this far?

Nobody else seemed as surprised as he did at what he'd done. The father of the girl was still glaring at him, obviously angry.

"Are _you_ satisfied with my decision?" he asked the father.

The father looked at Charlotte and then his daughter and said, "I question your leadership. This situation is your fault. You made the women think they had a choice. You put the idea into my daughter's head and she choose poorly. When your woman really didn't have a choice, you just made her think she did until she chose the way you wanted her to."

As he listened to the father speak he could feel everything slipping away. His doubts about his abilities began to mount and everything the man said felt true.

"You are a liar who manipulates people into doing foolish tasks but you have no real vision for us. Even if your wheel works, what will we do on the other side?"

He looked around at the other people and then said directly to him. "You could be leading us all to our deaths... using our sweat for your own means. You killed our last leader and the woman you despised is dead, along with her husband who hated you. Everyone is afraid of you now, so why should we trust you?

"Because you tamed that evil smoke and protect us from it? We don't even know where you came from. You're not one of us. For all we know that smoke is you and has always been you."

Taking his dagger out he said through clenched teeth, "If you want to challenge my position with our people, you fight me man to man, don't just make up lies and accusations."

The man took out his own knife and said, "Fine by me. I'm tired of answering to a parasite."

"Sara!" Charlotte called out. "Say something!"

He was so angry that she would speak up again that he would have struck her another blow if she didn't ran to the older woman. Everyone was still respectful of Sara and looked to see what she would say. When she spoke, it was as if he had the wind knocked out of him.

"Hadrian is my nephew," she said. The people around looked at each other and then at him suspiciously. "Claudia's husband was our second leader here, her son would be in line for leadership. And in my opinion, he has proved himself worthy in his own right. The only reason I declined his proposal was because of our blood relationship. I would have been proud to be his wife."

The father took a step towards her doubtful, "I knew your sister well, she was going to name her son Jacob."

"Hadrian's twin brother is named Jacob," Charlotte said. "Some of you have seen them playing senet. He lives on another part of the island, I've been there."

The people were not nearly as astonished as he was. When she smiled at him, for the first time he saw in Sara the resemblance to the ghost woman he'd seen as a child. And he remembered well the light haired man he'd known who had argued with the people to let him stay and had eventually become a leader.

"Marcus?" he said to her. When she nodded, he realized, he'd known his father; hunted with him until one night he had been driven off a cliff by fear of the smoke snake.

"This is _not_ the son of Marcus. That would be an insult to a brave man," the father said with impunity. "He was good natured, honest and strong... nothing like this dark, crazy manipulator."

The dagger seemed to have a will of it's own and jumped, dragging his hand at the man. It may have been fate or providence, but he missed him on his first strike and sliced only his arm on the second attempt. The man came at him in return, but was quickly restrained by the brothers.

He could have killed the man but realized in that moment, by showing restraint he could regain the people's respect. He would need their trust to lead them when they left the island.

"I believe Sara," another older man said. "He looks just like Claudia and her father was a dark man like Hadrian."

Others stood up for him as well and the brothers agreed to go along with what ever the father decided for his daughter. They shook hands that they would not allow a girl to come between them.

Sara's embrace seemed like a final christening to his position among them. This was the last confirmation he needed to establish in his mind that these were not just his people, they were his family. And yet, he was unsettled; angry even. Why couldn't he have found out sooner and been raised as a son instead of merely tolerated and bullied as an outsider?

Worse was knowing, she had killed his father too. It was a whole other set of reasons to get as far away from her and this island as he could.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte called after him as he walked back to the well. He planed to work into the night if he had to. When her hand went on his shoulder to stop him he yanked it away from her and turned. She flinched and said, "You going to hit me again?"

He blinked and looked away. "I'm sorry... you have no idea what I'm going through right now."

"I thought you trusted me," she said. "I wouldn't interrupt you if it wasn't important."

"What, then?" he asked. "What could be so important?"

"I think Jacob is going to tell your mother we're leaving," she said.

"No," he said. "He wouldn't do that... He understands that I have to leave just like I understand he has to stay."

"But will your mother understand?"

He gestured in disgust as he said, "She doesn't ever ask about me and I know he won't bring it up because he doesn't want to get in trouble for visiting."

"I told him about the baby," she said. "He said you told him he could help raise it. He doesn't want us to go now... He might think she could stop us."

"Why," he asked, and breathed heavily trying to comprehend it. "Would you do that?"

He saw a wave of emotions distort her features momentarily and she looked down. "I wanted to share with someone who would actually be happy about it." She raised her brows, still staring at the ground. "And he was... it was stupid of me, but." She met his eyes again and said, "It's a child and it deserves someone to feel joy for it. And Jacob did... he blessed it even."

He licked his lips and remembered what had been said about their father. A good man, just like Jacob. Without another word he stormed past her.

"And he told me something else," she went on following him. "You _planned_ to get me pregnant. Is that true? Why would you do that if you didn't want a child?"

"Because he wants one. I thought if we had one he might leave our mother and join us," he said. "Guess it didn't work."

He heard a scuffle behind him and turned just in time to feel her shoving him. Years of being attacked had made him ready and he grabbed her arms and threw her to the ground. It wasn't what he meant to do, and seeing Charlotte laying there looking angrily up at him he felt a wave of self-hatred flow through him.

"_You_ told Jacob you were pregnant, not me," he defended, pointing at her. "Yes, I told him I might try but only to convince him to join us... because excuse me if I love my brother and want him away from that crazy, dangerous woman."

He paused swallowing as the realization that he had to leave Jacob behind broke his heart again.

"I lied to him to make him leave, but I didn't go through with it. If you remember, _you_ came to _me_." Charlotte's face revealed her guilt. "And you _seduced_ me. You lied about caring for me, when all you wanted was for me to continue protecting you." He jabbed his finger at her and said, "You used me, Charlotte, not the other way around."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just wish... I wish you could be just a little happy about it."

He took a step and put his hand to his head trying to fathom how wrong everything had gone.

"I actually might be if I had some sense that his mother didn't hate me for not being someone else... if I could change and be someone else, I would... but I can't so... you're stuck with me."

When she started to cry, it was all he could stand.

"I'm sorry I had her bring you back," he said. "I'm sure death is better than being stuck with me."

"I can take her then?" came his brother's voice. Turning around he saw Jacob was standing there wearing a stained tunic and a strange expression. He walked forward and held his hand out to Charlotte and said, "Are you ready to go home?"

"You can't just take her," he said.

Jacob didn't answer, but Charlotte took his hand and got up. Her elbow was bleeding and it made him sick to think he hurt her. Jacob turned to him and said, "I'm giving you the choice. Can I take her?"

He looked at Charlotte and said, "Do you still even want to leave the island with me?"

"It's not going to send me back to where I came from," she said. "I've known that for a long time. But if you need me, I'll go with you."

Jacob seemed so calm standing there. Trying to make the decision, his entire chest ached thinking about who he was in comparison to his brother. Of course he needed her, but what kind of father would he make, and she would never love him.

"Take her," he said. When she looked relieved at Jacob, he squeezed his eyes shut. He opened them to say good bye but there was nobody there. Both of them were gone.

He looked around and through the trees, but saw nothing. It was just as well, he had work to do in the well and hoped the coals were still hot enough to get some of the welding done on the wheel.


	22. Hijo Nos Ha Nacido

It wasn't until they entered a cabin that Charlotte realized, this wasn't the Jacob she knew.

"You're from the future, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes, I am," he said, sitting down at a table. "We have a little bit of time before the next shift, have a seat."

Sitting she asked, "Are you taking me home? Back to where I belong?"

"Where do you belong, Charlotte?" he asked.

"Where I came from... 2007," she said.

"Is that where you want me to take you?" he asked. "Is that where you belong?"

Something didn't feel right about the way he asked it and she thought about what was going on then. Widmore, his war with Ben and the plan to take over the island. What she knew now about the island and how special it was and deadly... she didn't want to bring her child into that. And what she may be asked to do by the man she worked for was not what she wanted now.

She put her hand on her stomach and Jacob crossed his arms and put a knuckle against his lips.

"It's not safe where I came from, is it?" she asked.

He shook his head.

With trepidation she asked, "Where's Daniel?"

"Right now, he hasn't been born yet," he said. "But I think you mean, where would he be if I brought you back to 2007." She nodded. "He wouldn't be there. He didn't make it back either."

That had never occurred to Charlotte. "What happened to him? Did he end up living in another time period like I did?"

"Yes, in 1974," he said. "He only lived another three years."

"I've been here for about three years," she said. "So... he's just died?"

Jacob nodded. It was too much and Charlotte felt the tears coming.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"Maybe I should just go back to the village..." she said, looking out the window.

"There's no one to go back to," he said. "The villagers are all dead and tomorrow my brother will be gone too."

He leaned forward, his elbows on the table and studied her face. "I don't know what to do with you, Charlotte. I don't know where the two of you belong in space and time."

He picked up a piece of paper laying there and handed it to her.

"I was given this note, to pass on to you. Can you tell me if it means anything to you?"

"This is a page from Daniel's notebook," she said.

"It was the last thing he ever wrote in it. His mother gave it to me."

She read it to herself and had to stop several times to clear the tears out of her eyes that blurred the text.

"When time and space intercept, I have come to believe that it's the happiest moments in our life which define us and determine where our home will be for eternity. I have left science behind as I think on these things because when the universe folds on itself and our consciousness is removed from the confines of time and matter, all these liner calculations are meaningless and only our souls and those we love remain. A pity for those who never knew love, or only understood a distorted version in their vain existence focused on tasks and accomplishments.

In short, if nothing I have done or am going to do in my great purpose that my mother had hoped and expected of me, then at least I can forgive her for giving me the opportunity to experience one moment that I can never regret; I choose to say what I needed to say to find my happiness. I only hope that moment was the same for Charlotte so that when time does end, she'll be there."

She looked up at Jacob and saw his eyes were hopeful.

"Do you know when that was?" he asked.

As the tears ran down her face she said, "Yes." But confusion swept over her and she wiped her face and shook her head. "But I can't go back there... it was 1954!" She sniffed and said, "I don't know how this is going to help me here and now."

"I had a vision when Eloise put that in my hand that we would discover it together," Jacob said. "Tell me what you remember of that moment."

Charlotte took a deep breath and recalled it to the best of her ability.

"Daniel was trying to convince them that we were part of the military, a science team there to help. They thought he was going to set the bomb off and kill everyone, but he told them he would never do that." She smiled as she remembered and said, "He said they could trust him because he was in love with me and would never do anything to hurt me." She lifted her brows and said, "That was the happiest moment of my life... and I think that is what he is referring to here."

Jacob smiled and said, "That is beautiful. I'm sure that didn't get him very far with my people, though."

"Actually," she said. "I didn't think it would either, but... it worked. From that moment on the leader trusted us."

"The leader... do you mean Richard Alpert?" Jacob asked.

"It could have been, he didn't tell us his name," she said.

With clear affection Jacob said, "Well, I had just told Richard to trust his heart... So it wouldn't surprise me if..."

Charlotte watched as Jacob closed his eyes and his face began to almost shine. His smile was so broad and warm and his hands went to the sides of his face. "This is... this is just like the Light..." He laughed and when he opened his eyes he took her hands and said, "All this time... I never knew."

"Never knew what?" she asked. "Do you know where you're supposed to take me?"

Jacob stood and looked down at where she sat and said, "I know I'm supposed to trust my heart... I know the light keeps it's promises and makes me keep mine...without even realizing it if need be."

He tugged gently on her hands and said, "Shall we find out where it sends us?"

"You don't control it?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Most of the time I have an idea where I'm going and what I'm supposed to do... this time, I don't know where, but I know just about when. I'm afraid your cultural anthropology is going to come in handy again."

"I have to start over?" she asked. "Will they at least speak a language I know?"

He shook his head and said, "I can fix that, though." He touched her lips with his fingers and said, "Ready?"

Charlotte nodded and in a moment she was no longer in the cabin. It was dusk and she was alone in the middle of a town with horse drawn buggies. At her feet was a satchel.

"Jacob?" she said, looking around. The people passing her looked her over and Charlotte grabbed the bag and went to a side ally to look in it. There were some gold coins and goods she recognized as having value. The first thing she needed to do was find a place to stay and right there was a sign she knew to be an Inn.

She got in line behind a dark haired woman who was pleading with the man to give her credit. Charlotte knew some Spanish words, but had never learned it fluently enough to be understanding the conversation as she was. Jacob's gift must be working.

The woman had just come here from Spain and her family would be arriving in six months. Her sister had died and she had been robbed of the money she came with. She promised her father would pay it back double when he came. Charlotte realized the amount needed for that duration was just under what she had. Immediately she felt pity for the woman and interrupted.

"Do you have a room for two?" she asked in Spanish. "She could stay with me."

The young woman turned to her, gratitude in her eyes and thanked her over and over.

Once it was agreed upon and her fee was paid she helped her carry her bags to their room. They were heavy and she guessed the woman was not impoverished. If Charlotte was lucky, this friendship would last until the baby was born at least. As they made their way to the room she thought of all she had been through and was glad to finally be off the island.

She had a feeling that Jacob's blessing would come true and everything would be alright. As the Innkeeper unlocked their door, she put her hands on her stomach.

"Are you pregnant?" the woman asked her.

"Yes, actually."

"My sister was pregnant, about as far along as you look. I think that's why the sickness took her instead of me..." As they went in their room she said, "That bag you're carrying was hers with maternity wear and baby clothes... You are not only an answered prayer, you are a blessing sent by God to heal my broken heart. And I was meant to help you, I believe." She set her bags down on the floor by the bed and Charlotte put the other two on the bed.

"What is your name and where is your family?" the woman asked her.

"I'm Charlotte Lewis," she answered. "And I'm a widow... I have no family. I lost everything I own, but what's in this bag."

The woman's face looked stricken with empathy and she came to Charlotte and said, "From this moment on, what's mine is yours and my family will be your family." She embraced her and then put her hands on her cheeks and said, "My name is Lydia Alpert and you are now my sister."

At hearing that name, a feeling washed over Charlotte of peace. Jacob had sent her, maybe not to her own home with Daniel, not yet, but this is where her son was supposed to be. And for now, that would be enough.

When the woman began to unpack her bag, Charlotte had to confirm it one more time.

"Tell me," she asked her. "Was your sister going to name her child Richard?"

Lydia gasped and turned to her with as much surprise as delight, "How could you know that?"

"Because I think it's supposed to be my son's name," she said.

THE END!

**Author's Note: Thanks to those who read this to the end! I appreciate your reading and reviewing support. There will be an other short 5 chapter story, "The Others Ever After" with these characters in sideways world for both this story and Lost Love, so if you haven't read Lost Love, you should! It's long, but they are companion stories and the sideways resolutions will make so much more sense if you've read both of these. Thanks again!**


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